The Day The Music Died
by OMAC001
Summary: The Crystal Gems have faced Monsters and Gems out to destroy the Earth, but they've never faced a threat like La Bruja! They will face psychological trails designed to break them, secrets that will crack their bonds and even destroy Steven's trust in them. They cannot win this alone! Fortunately, if they swallow their pride, they won't have too...
1. Chapter 1

Prologue: Come Little Children…

 _After "Sadie's Song"…_

Steven was sitting on his bed, watching the latest episode of "Crying Breakfast Friends" before going to bed. Today was a marathon leading up to an exciting new episode involving a new character: Bawling Banana. The series had previous gone through one of those weird week long hiatus(1), so Steven was waiting with anticipation…

"STEVEN! Time to go to bed!" called out Pearl having finally noticed the time. The episode was coming on a little later than it usually did.

"Ah, just a few more minutes?!" begged Steven hoping to see the end because Bawling Banana had not shown up yet.

"If there's one thing I know about human television shows, it's that they repeat themselves. Usually the next day." stated Pearl as she turned off the TV and tucked Steven into bed. Steven really wanted to see the end, but when Pearl enforced bedtime, there was no escape! So sighing, Steven went down to the bathroom to brush his teeth and put on his pajamas, while Pearl gathered the Gems for the goodnight kiss ritual.

Walking out of his bathroom and walking up the stairs, Steven lay in bed waiting for the Gems. Depending on what they were doing, they were usually pretty prompt with Pearl's summons. When they finally arrived, they each kiss him on the forehead and tucked him in. They then made their way to the Warp Pad.

"We'll back soon! Just wanna do one last look around for Peridot. Love you." stated Garnet as the Gems left for their night time mission. And with that Steven closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep… Only to be awoken by the sound of music playing outside. Opening his bedroom window, Steven heard the sounds of violins and woodwind instruments filling the air with a soothing tone, before a woman's voice sounded across Beach City.(2)

" _ **Come little children, I'll take thee away,  
Into a land of enchaaaantment.  
Come little children, The time's come to play,  
Here in my garden of shaaaadows.**_

Hearing the voice, Steven fell into a trance state. Slowly walking down the stairs, Steven went out through the front door. He slid down the sand cliff face to reach the bottom faster. Walking past Vidalia's house, Steven waited for Onion to climb out of his window to the ground, everyone else in the house sound asleep. Onion had…the same look on his face he usually does(3), and followed Steven as the music continued to play….

" _ **Follow sweet children, I'll show thee the way,  
Through all the pain and the sooorrows.  
Weep not poor children, For life is this way,  
Muuuurdering beauty and paaaassions.**_

As the pair made their way through Beach City, the small town was strangely quiet. It seemed that when the song began the people of Beach City fell asleep, some of them in the streets. Not that the children really were in any shape to investigate. Reaching Beach Citywalk Fries, Onion and Steven arrive to see…Peedee Fryman and Connie Maheshwan! They were also in the same trance like state Steven and Onion were in. Together they walked through the silent city, towards their final destination guided by the haunting melody on the wind…

" _ **Hush now dear children, It must be this way,  
To weary of life and deceeeeptions.  
Rest now my children, For soon we'll away,  
Into the calm and the quiiiiiet.**_

Eventually, the children came across an old abandoned building. It had at one point been a _children's restaurant_ with animatronic figures and games. The windows were boarded up and paint was peeling from the walls. It was in a state of general disrepair. Yet the song seemed to be coming from this foreboding structure…

" _ **Come little children, I'll take thee away,  
Into a land of enchantment.  
Come little children, The time's come to play,  
**_

Reaching the entrance, the doors creaked open, revealing a strange figure. A grown woman with four arms, wearing a black sleeveless dress, covered in body paint **resembling a skeleton, and wielding a staff resembling a skull and spinal column!**

" _ **Here in my garden of shaaaaadows.**_ "

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or SheZow nor any characters or elements that are contained in the series. I only own this story and the original characters (i.e. villains and monsters) and concepts that go with it. Just wanted to point out, we're following the main Steven Universe Timeline right now, not my other stories. Hope I presented a good hint there at the end! Read and Review please!

1 As the Steven Universe wiki indicate a similarity between CBF and SU, I take this as my opportunity to complain about the hiatuses Steven Universe undergoes.

2 "Garden of Shadows", a variant of "Come Little Children" in the Disney film _Hocus Pocus_ popularized by Kate Covington on her YouTube channel Erutan Music on 2009.

3 Seriously is anyone else always unnerved by Onion's blank expression? I sometimes wonder if he's a little sociopath.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One: Superstition Ain't The Way

 _The Next Morning…_

"I can't believe the Warp Pad got destroyed!" exclaimed Pearl because the Crystal Gems had to travel back across the States. During the search for Peridot, Peridot had damaged the Warp Pad in order to keep the Gems from pursuing her. Needless to say, it was the only Warp Pad within easy reach for miles necessitating the long trip back home.

"Well complaining about it ain't going to make the trip back any easier." retorted Amethyst annoyed because Pearl had been bemoaning their situation the whole way back.

"Enough! We're home." replied Garnet, as a sign showing the city limits of Beach City. Seeing that they were so close to home, the Gems double-timed it back to the temple. On the way back, they noticed some…unusual goings on. It seemed that all of Beach City had started searching the city for something. Right now, however, the Gems were more interested in checking in on Steven then speaking with the locals.

Arriving at the Beach House, the Gems first noticed the lack of any noise coming from inside the House. Rushing inside the Gems looked in Steven's bedroom to find…nothing. Looking around the Beach House, they found…nothing. Finally checking the temple, in every room save Rose's, under every pile of trash in Amethyst's room, checking every bubbled Gem in Garnet's room, every inch of Pearl's room, they found… **nothing.**

"Maybe he's in Rose's room?!" thought Pearl desperate for an easy solution.

It was Garnet's unfortunate duty to dispel such illusions, "If he was, Rose's gem would glow on the door. We need to cast of net further out."

"Yeah, like how everyone else is…" exclaimed Amethyst before realizing what she was saying. Everyone in Beach City was in a search pattern! Maybe that had something to do with what happened to Steven!

Garnet seemed to agree with that line of thinking, "Let's see what's going on out there." Quickly the Gems rushed to the city. The first people they came across were the Frymans looking around the boardwalk.

Being more diplomatic than the others, Pearl was designated the questioner, "Excuse me but…we were out of town recently. Could you tell us what happened recently?"

Thankfully, it was Mr. Fryman that Pearl was talking to. His older son Ronaldo could be a bit…well anyway, Mr. Fryman replied, "Peedee and just about every kid his age disappeared. The whole town's out looking for them but so far nothing."

"You know…it might not be so crazy to listen to my theory on this." stated Ronaldo Fryman, much to his father's annoyance. Ronaldo was a conspiracy theorist so he usually had a crazy theory about everything that happened around town. The fact that the Gems were mostly responsible never cross his mind unless someone brings it up.

"For the last time Ronaldo, aliens did not abduct your brother and his friends! They probably wandered off while everyone was asleep." explained Mr. Fryman.

"You mean **put** to sleep! My instruments recorded a signal that affects the human brain around the same time everyone took a **simultaneous nap** last night! It's clear that the aliens wanted to abduct the children without anyone interfering!" shouted Ronaldo while holding a makeshift scanner in his hands.

"Would you mind letting me see that?" asked Pearl before Ronaldo handed her the device. Normally, the Gems would not bother with Ronaldo's ideas, but because he seemed to have possible proof _and_ Steven's life was on the line, they could not take any chances. Fiddling with the Device, Pear looked over the 'evidence,' humming every now and then, before replying, "There _was_ a signal broadcast last night…"

"AHA! I told you!" exclaimed Ronaldo, feeling vindicated.

"But it's not alien in origin." stated Pearl, deflating Ronaldo, "However, it does seem too sophisticated to be random noise. It's actually **two** signals: one to put an adult mind to sleep and another to leave a child's mind in a…suggestable state."

"Well, **that's** not creepy!" exclaimed Amethyst sarcastically.

Garnet took a look at the device and discovered something else, "It was broadcast almost the second we left Beach City. That can only mean…"

"Someone was monitoring us…and that they were after Steven!" exclaimed Pearl, realizing with growing horror that they were played! Garnet's future vision only allowed her to see what might happen if she knew all the factors involved, so by doing it after they left, whoever it was would not have to worry about inferences!

"Wait, if this signal does what you say it does, why did whoever did this wait until you left?" asked Ronaldo, not understand that part of the 'plan'.

"There's a good chance _we_ would not have been effected by the signal. Better to wait until we were far enough away not to notice." explained Garnet. What she didn't say was how long someone had to be _studying them_ before they realized on any given mission it would take the Gems between an hour to three to get back. The fact that Peridot damaged the Warp Pad making them stay away longer was a coincidence that worked to the perpetrator's favor.

"Well at least they brought in that hero from Megadale to help out. Should be a cinch to find the kids now." announced Mr. Ronaldo.

The Gems immediately looked up from the scanner with suspicious looks, and Pearl asked, "What hero?"

 _At Mayor Bill Dewey's Office…_

"I can't thank you enough for coming to our fair city on such short notice." replied Mayor Bill Dewey to a previous part of the conversation, while sitting behind his desk.

"Well I was in the neighborhood and when I heard about what happened, I rushed over!" explained SheZow (aka Guy Hamdon)(1) in a falsetto voice while standing on the other side of the desk.

"Now are you that…this particular villain is responsible? I mean I've heard some pretty grisly stories involved with **her**." asked Mayor Dewey in a worried tone. And worried he should be, tales of this particular supervillain generally involved a high body count, possibly in the triple digits.

"I've fought her long enough to know some of her patterns. That song you described and accidentally record just cinches it." SheZow continued to explain. Yes, Mayor Dewey had been practicing a speech and accidentally recorded part of the song before passing out like everyone else in Beach City. It might hold some important information, like where the villainess was hiding.

"I just hope you can get to the kids before she decides to leave with them or something." stated the Mayor. None of the highway patrols spotted any vehicles leaving Beach City between the hours between the Snooze (as some of the more creative of the populace called the mass napping) and now.

"I doubt she'll leave just yet. You see-" SheZow began before being interrupted by the doors to the office being kicked down.

"Did you really _need_ to kick the doors down?" asked Pearl exasperated at the unnecessarily brutish approach to the door.

"Always wanted to do it." stated Amethyst simply. With that the Gems walked up to the Mayor's desk.

"Well if it isn't the Crystal Gems. What can I help you with?" asked the Mayor in a cheery tone, though he could guess the Gems were upset about something.

"Mayor Dewey, we just like to know why you've brought this… _charlatan_ …into such a serious matter." stated Garnet simply, with suppressed rage in her tone.

Mayor Dewey sighed before explaining, "Now I know you girls have some…past drama. But SheZow here has explained that one of her enemies might have something to do with this so-"

"Oh is that all. Well you can tell _SheCow_ that we'll be sure to return her playmate after we have retrieved Steven and the others." remarked Pearl dismissively, not even bothering to speak to SheZow who was right next to her.

" _She_ has received the message and _she_ would like to point out that this particular bad guy is not someone you want to take lightly!" explained SheZow, irritated at the Gems' attitude towards him. The truth is Guy knew the reason for the Gems' dislike of him, or more specifically his great aunt Agnes, the previous SheZow. Long story short, she came to fight one of the Gems' monsters and the Gems took offense. They were generally dismissive of other **human** heroes and the bad guys they fought. The situation was partially resolved by their former leader Rose, but with her passing…

"Oh please, we go in, beat them up, and come back with the hostages. What's the big deal?" asked Amethyst in a nonchalant tone. Truthfully, Amethyst equated superheroing with wrestling, fake and used to entertain people.

"The **big deal** is that she has a body count of just over a million people! And that's just the people she herself kills!" exclaimed SheZow frustrated that the Gems were not getting the seriousness of the situation.

"Enough!" shouted Mayor Dewey, surprising both the Gems and SheZow with his anger, "Look I don't fully understand what your problem with each other and frankly I don't care! Gems, SheZow is a world-class heroine, if she thinks you should take this seriously, take it seriously! SheZow, the Gems are powerhouses _and_ they know the area, you'll probably need their help! Now does anyone else have a comment?!"

Silence reigned in the office, before a beeping was heard in Pearl's direction. Looking down, Pearl realized she kept Ronaldo's homemade scanner. Picking it up from her belt, Pearl realized that the scanner was not only picking up the signal…but point to its source! Nodding her head to the Gems to confirm what she was thinking, Pearl explained to the Mayor, "I'm sorry Mayor but we need to…get back to our investigation." Turning a pointed gaze at SheZow, she continued, "We'll deal with **you** later!"

As the Gems rushed out of the office, SheZow gave Mayor Dewey a look to which he replied, "Follow them. I've got a feeling they'll need the help from what you've told me." In a flash of pink, SheZow zipped out of the office at super speed, knocking a bunch of papers to and fro. The Mayor simply sighed and called in his secretary

 _A few moments later, at the other side of the walk…_

"Alright, if I'm reading Ronaldo's device correctly, the signal is coming from…in here!" exclaimed Pearl, pointing to a rather desolate section of the walk. And I mean… _desolate!_ The wood from the building were beginning to rot, the windows were all cracked, and some of the buildings' doors and shutters were off their hinges. This particular area of the walk hadn't visited in over _five to six years_ , leading some of the younger generations to name it…the **Deadwalk!**

"Looks like as good a place for someone to hide as any. Hey, Garnet, any chance you could use your future vision help with some of the searching?" asked Amethyst, hoping to save some time.

To which Garnet replied, "It's the first building that closed down… **Aqua Mexican**. That's about a few hundred feet in, but be careful…I'm sensing a trap."

"Ooh, 'future vision' sounds like a neat ability! So what, does it just the most likely events to happen or all of them?" asked SheZow finally revealing himself behind the group.

The Gems angrily glared back at the teenage superhero(ine), before Pearl waved her hand dismissively, "Go away. This is Gem business."

"Well since your _Gem_ business not only includes _my_ arch nemesis, but also a small group of _human_ children, I'm making it my business!" exclaimed SheZow. What little Guy knew about the past incident from Sheila indicate that the Gems were at fault, being too arrogant to ask for help. Of course that's not how the Gems remember the incident, but more on that latter…

"We don't need you _blundering_ into a situation that-" started Pearl, only to be interrupted by Garnet.

"ENOUGH!" exclaimed Garnet catching everyone's attention, "We don't have time for this! If SheZow wants to… _help_ , then we'll let her. It'll help resolve this situation faster."

Pearl was about to object, when a strange melody filled the air. It was a funky rhythm guitar instrumental with a drum beat backing it up(2). SheZow decided to comment, "Now we know she's here" before the music played…

" _ **Very superstitious, writings on the wall,**_

 _ **Very superstitious, ladders bout' to fall,**_

 _ **Thirteen month old baby, broke the lookin' glass**_

 _ **Seven years of bad luck, the good things in your past**_

Deciding to put their argument on hold, the Gems and the hero(ine) decided to start the search by where the song was coming from. Slowly making their way through the abandoned area of the boardwalk, the group began to notice an effect the song had the area. The shadows seemed to lengthen and darken, creaks and groans of the wood grew louder. The effect only worsened as the song played on…

" _ **When you believe in things that you don't understand,**_

 _ **Then you suffer,**_

 _ **Superstition ain't the way**_

"Hey Pearl, what's up with the music?" asked Amethyst genuinely curious.

"It seems to be a mask for the signal. Strange since it's inaudible to human hearing." explained Pearl.

" **She** 's being dramatic. **She** 's always got to have a theme song to accompany her crimes!" exclaimed SheZow, bitterly. This particular villain had always cause SheZow huge trouble at every encounter.

"Oookay…so does this signal actually do anything or…?" asked Amethyst Pearl, while curious about SheZow's intensity.

"So far, nothing. It's possible that whoever's behind this simply did it to _invite_ us here." explained Pearl. Meanwhile, the song continued to play…

" _ **Very superstitious, wash your face and hands,**_

 _ **Rid me of the problem, do all that you can,**_

 _ **Keep me in a daydream, keep me goin' strong,**_

 _ **You don't wanna save me, sad is my song**_

SheZow, however, began to see something moving in the shadows and in the alleys. Seeing the Gems ignore it, SheZow decided to do so as well. Eventually, the group ended up in front of the abandoned Aqua Mexican restaurant. Originally a children's Mexican theme seafood restaurant, the building was closed down after a few cases of food poisoning as well as some accidents with the animatronics. Coincidentally or maybe not so, every other business within three blocks of the restaurant also closed down for similar reasons, taking a huge chunk of Beach City's revenue with them. It's what gave the Deadwalk it's rather sinister reputation with the locals.

The restaurant itself was much like the other building surrounding it; cracked windows, door ajar and off its hinges, even the little stand in of 'Pablo Pescado' the restaurant's fish mascot had seen better days. All in all, it did not look like anyone had been to the area recently. "I don't understand the signal is clearly coming from here. So where is everyone?" asked Pearl confused.

"It wouldn't be a hideout if they weren't, you know…hiding." stated Amethyst, annoyed at the lack luster discovery but hiding it behind sarcasm.

Garnet stepped closer to the restaurant even placing a hand to the door. A look of concentration appeared on her face, using her future vision. Suddenly, Garnet practically jumped a few inches away from the door. Amethyst asked her, "Hey Garnet, ya 'see' anything?"

Garnet took a moment to collect herself before replying, "Nothing." Just as Amethyst was about to groan Garnet interrupted her, "Let me finish. It's as if the building is permanently lock in 'now'. There's absolutely no future for this building…and no past either…" And with that creepy fact learned, the music continued to play…

" _ **When you believe in things that you don't understand,**_

 _ **Then you suffer,**_

 _ **Superstition ain't the way, yeh, yeh**_

The shadows seem to start coming alive after Garnet stated that she could not use her future vision. "Um Pearl…are you **sure** the signal isn't controlling anything?" asked Amethyst getting a little freaked out by the shadows moving.

"Well, to be honest, it might… But nothing as complicated as a human! It seems to be targeting simple lifeforms like…like…" Pearl explained before struggling to find an example.

"BATS!" SheZow shouted, interrupting Pearl's thoughts. And with that, swarms of thousands of bats shot out from the shadows in a dark tide. The Gems pulled out there various weapons and SheZow pulled out his Laser Lipstick. But the bats didn't come near them! Instead they shot up into the sky, becoming a dark cloud hanging over their heads blocking out the sun. The group waited with weapons drawn, knowing that the attack was imminent, as the song continued…

" _ **Very superstitious, nothin' more to say,**_

 _ **Very superstitious, the devil's on his way,**_

 _ **Thirteen month old baby, broke the lookin' glass,**_

 _ **Seven years of bad luck, good things in your past**_

At the end of 'devil's on his way', the swarm in mass surged downward towards our heroes! Pearl first tried to shoot some of the bats with her energy blast, but could only knockout a few at a time. Amethyst's whip managed to reach a few but nothing substantial. Finally, SheZow unleash her Super Sonic She ShriekTM to not only knock out a huge section of the swarm, but causing the rest to flee in a rout. All this while the final verse of the song played…

" _ **When you believe in things that you don't understand,**_

 _ **Then you suffer, Superstition ain't the way, no, no, no**_ "

On the final echoing 'no, no, no,' things seemed to return to normal. The shadows returned to their proper position and the midday sun showed its full brilliance. Our heroes put away their weapons looking towards the building. Garnet decided to break the silence by saying, "Alright SheZow, your in."

"WHAT?!" exclaimed the rest of the group, SheZow in surprise while the other Gems did so in outrage.

Thus Garnet had to explain herself, "Whoever is behind this found a way to block my future vision. Not only would that take a tremendous amount of power and equipment but also foreknowledge _of_ said ability. This combined with the timing of the kidnappings leads to only one conclusion: she's been spying on us for months, possibly even _years_. There's no telling how much this villainess has learned of us, while we know next to nothing about her…except SheZow.

"SheZow said it himself; this is her arch nemesis! If anyone could predict this villainess then it's him. So unless we want to lose any chance of saving Steven, we need SheZow's help!"

The other Gems resigned themselves to Garnet's wisdom. SheZow looked a little nervous at how Garnet kept saying 'he' is relation to him and was about to reply when Pearl beat him to it, "We've known you were male since the moment we met! Honestly, we've lived on the Earth nearly _five thousand years_ , we're not that unfamiliar with your species!"

"Yeah, it's not the first time I've seen a dude in drag, not judging." explained Amethyst calmly.

Sighing SheZow dropped his falsetto voice and said plainly, "Alright since there are no secrets, I should tell you…that building right there, is a lot bigger on the inside."

"Oh please, humans don't have anywhere near that level of technology!" exclaimed Pearl.

Garnet sharply replied, "Anymore than humanity having both the knowledge of 'future vision' and a way to disable it." With that, Pearl looked mollified while SheZow, looking smug, walked up an opened the door to the abandoned restaurant. With a sharp creak and groan, the door opened to reveal a pitch blackness only seen on a starless night. Turning back to the group with a cocky smile, SheZow asked,

"So…who wants to go into the haunted children's restaurant first?"

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or SheZow nor any characters or elements that are contained in the series. I only own this story and the original characters (i.e. villains and monsters) and concepts that go with it. Whelp theses chapters are going to be long, so expect some delays. I'll try to get the next one out by Halloween…because it's so appropriate! If not well…Happy Halloween! Please Read and Review.

1 The outfit SheZow is currently wearing is one I changed him into in my previous Danny Phantom/SheZow story "Dancing Mad". It's based on an idea by toongrowner found on deviantArt.

2 The song is "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Two: Toreador, En Garde!

Our group of heroes slowly made their way through the dark entrance to the abandoned Aqua Mexican restaurant. The carpeting gave off little clouds of dust with each step they took. Suddenly, the lights turned on revealing the interior of the restaurant! All the tables and chairs were where they were set, the games featuring several animatronic figures started up, and the figures returned to their routine gestures and moves. And while this went on a music box began to play an unusual tone…(1)

"Wow! This place hasn't change much!" exclaimed Amethyst excitedly, able to revisit a place she and Steven had fun at during the early years. "Oh look!" Amethyst rushed over to the various animatronic figures naming them from memory, "There's Macho Tiburon! And there's Valiente Espada! Oh, and over there…Contessa Medusa! Oh this takes me back…"

"Yes Amethyst I know you've missed this…place. But please remember we need to find Steven! …And the other children of course." exclaimed Pearl, adding the other children seemingly in after thought after getting a suspicious look from SheZow. Meanwhile, Garnet was staring at the animatronics with suspicion. While her future vision was blocked, she just couldn't help noticing that there were _four_ still in operation…

Just then, strange sounds came from the stage in the back of the building. Our group of heroes moved to investigate. On the stage was a group of endoskeletons, basically animatronics without the costumes, arranged in front of their instruments, one holding a guitar, one set at an electric keyboard, one at the drum set, and one near the microphone it's jaw hanging open. "This…ain't the regular band…" stated Amethyst remembering the band to be mariachis of various sea creatures.

Before anyone could comment, the Endos' eyes began to glow and they straightened themselves up. First, the keyboard player played an eerie electric melody, then the drummer played a rhythm, next the guitarist played a chord. Finally the lead singer began to sing a melody with a voice that sounded like it was coming through a speaker at a fast food restaurant…(2)

" _ **We're waiting every night**_

 _ **To finally roam and invite**_

 _ **Newcomers to play with us**_

 _ **For many years we've been here all alone**_

" _ **We're forced to be still and play**_

 _ **The same songs we've known since that day**_

 _ **An imposter took our life away**_

 _ **Now we're stuck here to decay**_

The song came at a fast pace, keeping the Gems and SheZow's attention on the stage. What was strange was that the Endo's became more animated the more they played. The guitarist individually plucked the strings, the keyboardist actually pressing the keys and so forth. Most old school animatronics did not have this range of motion and delicacy with their tools…

In the meanwhile, as the song played, the other animatronics began to move from their posts. Strangely silent (almost as if the music was covering any squeaks they would normally make) the animatronic, Contessa Medusa, Pablo Pescado, Macho Tiburon, and Valiente Espada moved towards our group of heroes. It was only when Tiburon knocked over a chair that the group turned around and spotted the approaching threat. Pulling out their weapons with their backs to the stage, the Gems and SheZow waited for the move from the red-eyed animatronics while the song took an aggressive turn…

" _ **Please let us get in!**_

 _ **Don't lock us away!**_

 _ **We're not like what you're thinking**_

" _ **We're poor little souls**_

 _ **Before we've lost all control**_

 _ **And we're forced here to take that role**_

" _ **We've been all alone**_

 _ **Stuck in our little zone**_

 _ **Since 1987**_

" _ **Join us, be our friend**_

 _ **Or just be stuck and defend**_

 _ **After all you only got**_

" _ **Five Nights at Freddy's**_

 _ **Is this where you want to be**_

 _ **I just don't get it**_

 _ **Why do you want to stay**_

 _ **Five Nights at Freddy's**_

Garnet made the first move charging at Tiburon with a punch…only for the robotic anthromorphic shark to catch her first and throw her across the room! Shock at both the strength and flexibility of the robotic shark, Garnet slowly got herself up while the shark leapt at her from ten feet away! Thankfully, Garnet was able to grab its jaws before it could bite down but had to struggle to keep them from biting down. And while all this was happening, the other heroes were having trouble with their 'dance partners'…

Pearl was fighting Valiente Espada, the matador swordfish, whose nose was a sharp as a rapier. Now pearl prided herself on being an accomplished sword fighter (since she practically invented fencing), but there two problems: she did not have a sword with her to fight properly and the robotic swordfish was moving with speed and grave rivalling her training holograms! Worse, unlike the holograms which had a set repertoire of maneuvers, this robot new how to cheat! Case in point, using the matador cape to keep many of its moves hidden and the sword like nose can shorten and length near instantly. All in all, Pearl was having a harder time than usual and none of the Gems or SheZow could back her up.

Amethyst was dealing with Contessa Medusa, basically an animatronic jellyfish in a flamenco dress. The main problem was that she had multiple tentacles (up to eight or ten) that could be used as whips _and_ they were electrified! Amethyst never really had a defensive strategy when she fought, given the nature of her weapon. So all she could do was dodge and look for an opening…

SheZow was having a slightly easier time with Pablo Pescado. For one thing, he was used to doing most of the fighting on his own, though he did have back up her his sister for tactical, technical support from Sheila, and the occasional distraction from Maz. But all in all, he did most of the fighting himself…not to say he was having an easy time, of course! With razor sharp fin blades and breakdancing fighting style, Pablo was a street hood with superhuman strength and endurance. All the heroes were having a tough fight, as the music changed tempo…

" _ **We're really quite surprised**_

 _ **We get to see you another night**_

 _ **You should have looked for another job**_

 _ **You should have said to this place good-bye**_

" _ **It's like there's so much more**_

 _ **Maybe you've been in this place before**_

 _ **We remember a face like yours**_

 _ **You seem acquainted with those doors**_

Finally, one of our heroes managed to break the stalemate and it was…SheZow! During one of Pablo breakdancing spin, SheZow managed to grab onto his legs and spin him through the air, right into Medusa. Which is a good thing too, because the Contessa had wrapped up Amethyst in her tendrils and was shocking her with huge voltages of electricity! Pablo crashing into her forced the jellyfish to let go, given Amethyst, still smoking from the electric barbecue, a chance to wrap them up with her whip and throw them into Espada!

Espada had just disarmed Pearl for the second time and was about to move in for the kill when the mass of wrecked animatronic smashed into him and propelled him backwards. Meanwhile, Tiburon had already taken a bite out of Garnet, specifically her afro! Thankfully Garnet leapt over the mass of wrecked animatronics as it headed towards her. Future vision or lucky break, this move caused the mass to smash into Tiburon, leaving him stand for a few minutes before he crashed down into the heap.

The Gems and SheZow took a moment to catch their breath, though SheZow knew it wasn't over yet. The fight end far too easily! Also the music was still playing…

" _ **Please let us get in!**_

 _ **Don't lock us away!**_

 _ **We're not like what you're thinking**_

" _ **We're poor little souls**_

 _ **Who have lost all control**_

 _ **And we're forced here to take that role**_

" _ **We've been all alone**_

 _ **Stuck in our little zone**_

 _ **Since 1987**_

" _ **Join us, be our friend**_

 _ **Or just be stuck and defend**_

 _ **After all you only got**_

" _ **Five Nights at Freddy's**_

 _ **Is this where you want to be**_

 _ **I just don't get it**_

 _ **Why do you want to stay**_

 _ **Five Nights at Freddy's"**_

With an unearthly groan, the mass of animatronic wreckage rose up to its feet! Its legs and arms were mismatched sets of four from Valiente, Tiburon and Pablo, with Medusa's tentacles sprouting from its back. The heads of Valiente Tiburon and Pablo were set in ascending order, while Medusa's could later be seen of its back control the tentacles. With groans and squeaks of motors and gears, the animatronic fusion slow charged its way to the group of heroes.

SheZow and the Gems dodged out of way of the charging hulk, only to be captured by the tentacles. Slowly being shocked by increasing voltages of electricity, the heroes could only languish in pain as the abomination laughed in four separate voices. Thankfully, SheZow had at least one hand free allowing him to throw his Boomerang Brush at Medusa's head. This caused the monster to screech and the tentacles to spam releasing the heroes.

The monster now distracted, the Gems went into action. Pearl started by shooting energy lasts into the monstrosity, blowing chunks of gear out of it with each hit. Amethyst used her whip to tie up its legs and with a mighty pull, caused it to fall over. Garnet simply took the whip are Amethyst and using her mighty strength, flung the monstrosity through the air landing on the Endo band just as the song ended. This caused a massive pyrotechnics explosion, which consumed the whole stage!

Panting, the heroes simply stared into the fire to make sure that nothing rose out of it. Pearl even sent a few energy blast to make sure. Just then, the sprinkler system turned on, dousing the fire and soaking our heroes. All that was left on the stage was melted metal and wires, with no chance of rising again. Finally, the group could relax.

"Well that wasn't so tough!" exclaimed Amethyst, noting how fast the group took care of the metal monstrosity. The other Gems simply glared at her, while SheZow went to investigate something on stage. Ignoring the still smoldering pile, SheZow went to the lead Endo singer's former position and opened up a trapdoor!

"Guess we're going down." commented SheZow as he stared into the abyss…

STEVEN UNIVERSE/SHEZOW

 _Deeper in the under floors of the restaurant…_

Steven blinked to get rid of the sleepy feeling in his eyes. Now fully awake, Steven took in the scene before…which could have come straight from a horror movie! He was in some sort of old timey laboratory complete with blink lights on the console, chains on the wall, tesla coils sparking and the wooden table he was strapped to. Steven tried to summon his enhanced Gem strength to bust out of the straps, but he was tied down so tight he could not get any leverage. Suddenly he heard the sound of a woman humming…

Looking over in the corner, Steven saw the strange women he remembered meeting last night. Her face was covered with face paint resembling a human skull with black wherever the skull wasn't painted. Her current outfit was a full length lab coat button up. Her hands, _all four of them_ , were covered in rubber gloves. All in all, she looked like a mad scientist, especially with that grin on her face…

"Now then," stated **La Bruja** , in a melodious voice, "patient is awake, tools are sterilized…shall we begin the _operación_ _?!_ " And with that, La Bruja pulled out a medical saw, turning it on with a whir. Steven increased his struggles as the mad woman came closer and closer…

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or SheZow nor any characters or elements that are contained in the series. I only own this story and the original characters (i.e. villains and monsters) and concepts that go with it. This will be my last update for the month, probably. Hope it was sufficiently horrifying with Halloween coming around! Happy Halloween and Read and Review!

1 "Freddy's Music Box Theme" based on Carmen Overture: "Toreador"

2 "Five Nights at Freddy's" by the Living Tombstones from "Five Nights at Freddy's 3"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Three: When You're Strange

Climbing down through the trapdoor on the stage, the Gems and SheZow found themselves in a series of catacombs that seemed to stretch throughout Beach City. The walls seemed to be sandstone and glass, as if someone melted the tunnels through the sand and dirt underneath the beach. "This is insane!" exclaimed Pearl in shock, "How long has this been down here?"

"Given what you told me about the Deadwalk? I'd say at least five years." replied SheZow, starting to realize the scope of La Bruja's plans.

"Seriously…How the heck could this villain gal do this without anyone noticing?!" exclaimed Amethyst incredulously.

"You don't know how obscenely wealth she is. Bruja could buy and sell Beach City ten times over before she started to lose any of her funds." stated SheZow, before activating a flashlight function on his Compact Communicator.

"Bruja?" asked Garnet, this being the first time SheZow had mentioned the name of their current adversary.

"Oh right. I never got the chance to explain…" replied SheZow rather pointedly because of the Gems behavior towards him, "La Bruja is probably one of the most dangerous villains I've ever faced. Not only does she have an ever evolving magical power set, she's got an army of robots and mercenaries to back her up. The only thing that's really ever saved me from her is the fact that she wants to _see_ her victims suffer! That gives me the time to get out of her traps or prisons and to topple her schemes."

"Well why is she interested in Steven? None of us have even met her much less fought her." asked Pearl.

"I honestly don't know. It's hard to find a reason for some of the things she does. Maybe she's doing this for fun." stated SheZow, utterly serious (and for anyone who knows him, that's a really bad sign.) Just then, the flashlight went out on his Compact.

"Sherious?! How cliché is this?!" exclaimed SheZow, angry at the horror movie moment that seemed like it was about to start.

"No worries! I have the solution…" exclaimed Pearl as her namesake lite up like a head lamp, "There now let's-ARGH!" Pearl began to say before a massive black hand grabbed Pearl's head and pulled her into the shadows!

"Pearl!" exclaimed Garnet, summoning her Gauntlets to chase after her captured friend…only to be dragged away feet first into the dark!

"Like I said, CLICHÉ!" exclaimed SheZow as he pulled out his Laser Lipstick in Punishing Pink. The glow from the weapon illuminated a small area around him and Amethyst, who also summoned her whip. Standing back-to-back, the pair of heroes turn around and around, keeping their eyes on the darkness.

"Dang it! She's trying the old 'divide and conquer' idea with horror movie twist! Whelp jokes on her…no way she can split us up right SheZow? …SheZow?" questioned Amethyst, before turning around, only to see SheZow's Laser Lipstick on the floor!

"Aw, nuts! What now?" exclaimed Amethyst, realizing she was alone in a horror movie! Just then a crack of thunder filled the air, before what seemed like rain fell from the 'ceiling'. Then, strangely enough, the soft strum of a guitar and notes of a piano filled the air as sad music began to play…(1)

" _ **People are strange when you're a stranger**_

 _ **Faces look ugly when you're alone**_

 _ **Women seem wicked when you're unwanted**_

 _ **Streets are uneven, when you're down**_

Staring at the ceiling in confusion, Amethyst completely missed the fist made of water hitting her in the face! Recovering quickly, Amethyst looked around…only to hit by two jets of water coming from opposite directions! Glancing in every direction Amethyst tried to find spray jets or something to explain the attacks only for her eyes to fall upon…"Lapis?!"

Yes there she was! The water controlling Gem, Lapis Lazuli, who in Amethyst's mind started the whole Homeworld reunion the Crystal Gems were going through. There was Lapis floating a foot off the ground…except Lapis was currently fused with Jasper as Malachite on the ocean floor! So who the heck was this?!

"Don't matter! I'll kick your butt and get back to saving Steven!" exclaimed Amethyst as she charge forward with her whip. She even managed to land a hit…which quickly showed Lapis to be some kind of water clone which instantly dispelled. Surprised Amethyst did not notice the water collect behind her, as the rain fell and the music played on…

" _ **When you're strange**_

 _ **Faces come out of the rain**_

 _ **When you're strange**_

 _ **No one remembers your name**_

 _ **When you're strange**_

 _ **When you're strange**_

 _ **When you're…straaaaange**_

Quickly sensing something behind her, Amethyst turned around in time to face…herself! More accurately, a double of Amethyst who was twice as tall, muscular looking, and wearing a Homeworld uniform. With an evil smirk, Homeworld Amethyst almost casually swatted Crystal Amethyst to the side.(2) Recovering quickly, Crystal Amethyst turned to face her doppelgänger…one for the double to completely vanish! Looking left and right, Crystal Amethyst felt a tap on her shoulder, turned around…and got punched in the face by Homeworld Amethyst!

" _ **People are strange when you're a stranger**_

 _ **Faces look ugly when you're alone**_

 _ **Women seem wicked when you're unwanted**_

 _ **Streets are uneven when you're down**_

Stumbling back, Amethyst (the Crystal Gem one) righted herself only for a thick fog to envelope the room. Amethyst decided enough was enough, rushing headlong into the mist, swinging her whip in every direction hoping to hit something. Yet it all amounted to nothing. The music seemed mocked her…probably the whole point of the song anyway…

Just then, the mist cleared to reveal…the Kindergarten! Only it wasn't the beaten down wreck Amethyst had come to associated it as. The Injectors were humming with life and energy, drilling into the ground, sucking the life out of the planet. Just as Amethyst was going to start wrecking the machines, a rumbling filled the air as the canyon walls (which come to think of it were lacking the holes Amethyst remembered being there) shook. Suddenly, the holes that were missing burst into existences…all the **hundreds of them!**

" _ **When you're strange**_

 _ **Faces come out of the rain**_

 _ **When you're strange**_

 _ **No one remembers your name**_

 _ **When you're strange**_

 _ **When you're strange**_

 _ **When you're…straaaange**_

The noise of exploding rock dissipated and the dust clear to reveal…hundreds of the Homeworld Amethysts! Leaping or stepping out of their respective 'birth holes', the Kindergarten grown Gems charged at Crystal Amethyst, who simply stood there with a stoic expression on her face. Some of the charging Kindergarten Gems summoned their weapons and struck at Amethyst when she got into range. Leaping to the side, Amethyst swung her whip at the closest Injector, cutting off a leg, causing it to fall right onto the horde of Doppelgängers!

A majority of them smashed, shattered, or poofed, the remaining enemy Gems quickly gathered up to charge at Amethyst again! Feeling proud of herself, the Crystal Gem grinned…only to hear a roaring thunder coming from the other end of the Kindergarten. Turning around Amethyst saw…about **ten times** the number of enemies charging from the other end of the Kindergarten! Meanwhile, the Song continued to play right to the end…

" _ **When you're strange**_

 _ **Faces come out of the rain**_

 _ **When you're strange**_

 _ **No one remembers your name**_

 _ **When you're strange**_

 _ **When you're strange**_

 _ **When you're…straaaange**_ "

As the Doppelgängers charged forward, Amethyst truly had no idea what to do. It was like a nightmare she couldn't wake-up from! …Wait, could that be it. The only real way to wake up from a nightmare without being woken up by someone, was to get a big shock! (Amethyst had enough experience sleeping and dreaming to know this by heart.) The only problem with this idea is that if it _wasn't a dream_ then she was as good as shattered. Well, only one way to find out…

Dropping her weapon on the ground, Amethyst lowered her arms to her side and closed her eyes awaiting the Horde. They were making no attempt to hide their approach, howling and snarling like animals waiting for the kill. As they got closer and closer, one thought pleaded through Amethyst's mind:

 _Please be a dream!_

 _Please be a dream!_

 _Please be a dream!_

 _Please be a-_

STEVEN UNIVERSE/SHEZOW

"Oh, don't ya just hate a cliffhanger?" asked La Bruja to her captive audience. This audience was Steven chained up, gagged, and struggling on a big target, split into two sections: one for Pearl and one of Garnet. "I know what your think 'what about SheZow?' Don't worry, _I always save the best for last!_ Any who, time to see who's next up for our little fright fest!"

A spotlight revealed La Bruja in a red and black matador holding about five throwing knives in her left hand and where a black blindfold on her eyes. Looking at where he was, Steven realized the danger and struggled more intensely. "Oh stop that, I shouldn't be able to hit any major arteries. Now, on the count of _diez_ … _uno_ … _dos_ … _tres_ … _cuarto_ … _cinco_ … _ **síes**_ … _ **siete**_ … _ **ocho**_ … _ **nueve**_ … _ **DIEZ!**_ "

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or SheZow nor any characters or elements that are contained in the series. I only own this story and the original characters (i.e. villains and monsters) and concepts that go with it. Sorry for the deal! Trouble with my wireless. Hope the story still turned out good. Read and Review Please!

1 "People Are Strange" by the Doors

2 In order to prevent confusion, the character Amethyst will be called Crystal Amethyst, while the doppelgänger will be called Homeworld Amethyst. By the way, the Homeworld Amethyst is based partially on Peridot's description of Amethyst true form in the episode "Too Far".


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Four: A Monster With 2 Heads

Garnet landed with a hard thud on the ground. Picking herself up from the crater she had made, Garnet silently fumed at the situation. To say that she was upset about being _dragged_ away from her team was truly an understatement. In fact, Ruby(1) wanted to burn the whole place to the ground! But Sapphire was able to cool her down, reminding Ruby that _Steven_ and the others were in the building. So, Garnet climbed out of the hole she dug in her fall and walked around the area to find a way back to the others.

The area was pitch black, like a starless night, but Garnet could still feel the rocky walls, almost like a cavern. In fact this place seemed… **familiar** … Suddenly, Garnet heard the sound of scurrying, making her decided to summon her Gauntlets for battle. Just that, strangely sad music began to fill the air…(2)

" _ **There must be something in the water**_

 _ **And there must be something about your daughter**_

 _ **She said our love ain't nothing but a monster**_

 _ **Our love ain't nothing but a monster**_

 _ **With 2 heads**_

Suddenly a bright light shown ahead, showing that Garnet was in the wrecked Kindergarten Facet Five room…and she wasn't alone! Across the floor were various smaller Fusion Experiments, usually things like to different feet attached to each other _and still moving!_ Garnet shivered in disgust, the Fusion Experiments hit her at an emotional level, but this batch were harmless. Suddenly, she heard the sound of _familiar_ loud mocking laughter. Turning towards the lite console, Garnet saw… _ **Jasper!**_

" _ **I turn to you, you're all I see**_

 _ **Our love's a monster with 2 heads and one heartbeat**_

 _ **I turn to you, you're all I see**_

 _ **Our love's a monster with 2 heads and one heartbeat**_

 _ **We just got caught up in the moment**_

 _ **Why don't you call me in the morning instead**_

 _ **Before we turn into a monster**_

 _ **Before we turn into a monster with 2 heads**_

 _ **I hope to God I'll love you harder**_

 _ **I hope to God I'll love you longer**_

 _ **If only I could live forever**_

 _ **If only I could hold you longer**_

As the music continued to play, Garnet turned to face her adversary! Charging at the laughing Homeworld Gem, Garnet drew back her fist and struck…a nearby wall. Jasper had disappeared, as if she was never there, just before the blow struck. Searching around Garnet could find no sign of the deadly enemy. She tried consulting her future sight…only for it to still not be working, sparking off an internal debate:3

" **What the #$%?!** "

" _Calm yourself, Ruby. We must still be within the Deadwalk. None of this is real._ "

" **Sure feels real to me!** "

With that, Garnet looked down to see the Cluster experiments crawling up her legs! Shaking them off, Garnet jumped back with a whelp dropping a stalactite on top of them, destroying and 'poofing' the whole lot. Breathing heavily, Garnet managed to calm down…only to feel a rumbling at her feet. Seeing hands suddenly rise up from the ground, Garnet prepared herself for a fight, while the music played on…

" _ **There must be something in the water**_

 _ **And there must be something about your daughter**_

 _ **She said our love ain't nothing but a monster**_

 _ **Our love ain't nothing but a monster**_

 _ **With 2 heads**_

The cluster creatures that came out had a more humanoid appearance this time.(4) There were however many deformities, such as having no faces or different number or shapes of arms. Ratty gray cloth kept the creatures from being nude. At least four of them faced Garnet charging forward to strike the Gem down. Garnet was able to swiftly (and quite viciously) take down the freaks of science. Unfortunately, more seem to come out of the ground while the music continued to play…

" _ **I turn to you, you're all I see**_

 _ **Our love's a monster with 2 heads and one heartbeat**_

 _ **I turn to you, you're all I see**_

Slowly but surely, Garnet was beginning to get worn down by the constant fighting. Truth be told, the Fusion experiments were not actually dangerous for a prepared and fully trained Crystal Gem. They were mindless, incapable of any greater strategy then swarm and surround their enemies. Even though Garnet's future vision wasn't working, she still made short work of all twenty of the humanoid variety and the dozens of smaller versions. However, the tremors beneath her feet signaled that something **much** bigger than the rest…

" _ **Our love's a monster with 2 heads and one heartbeat**_

 _ **We just got caught up in the moment**_

 _ **Why don't you call me in the morning instead**_

 _ **Before we turn into a monster**_

 _ **Before we turn into a monster with 2 heads**_

The whole floor tremble and shake before it burst open, forcing Garnet to leap to the side! Out of the floor shot…the first fusion monster Garnet ever fought, the Giant Hand!(5) Only this time it looked like it was attached to something… More of the shaped revealed a bunch of stitched together parts in the shape of Sugilite, with another Giant Hand on the other side and a monster head for a body with tentacle stalk like heads growing like hair! Garnet faced her foe, as the music reached its climax…

" _ **I hope to god I'll love you harder**_

 _ **I hope to god I'll love you longer**_

 _ **If only I could live forever**_

 _ **If only I could hold you longer**_

 _ **Well I hope to God I'll love you harder**_

 _ **I hope to God I'll love you longer**_

 _ **If only I could live forever**_

 _ **If only I could hold you longer**_ "

Garnet charged forward to bring a punch straight to the Body Face! Unfortunately, the twisted failed experiment turnout to be a much better fighter than the previous lots able to catch Garnet before she even got close. With a mighty throw, the creature threw Garnet up the shaft leading to the control straight to the surface. Pulling herself up, Garnet ready herself for the next attack…only for a humanoid to burst out of the ground behind her and catch her in a bear hug! As the giant monster made its way to the surface, more humanoid crawled up and dog piled Garnet. So many thoughts were running through the noble fusion's head:

" **WHAT DO WE DO NOW?!** "

" _I don't know._ "

" **There has to be something!** "

" _I'm as blind as you are without my future vision. I'm nothing…nobody…_ "

" **Don't you ever say that! You know that ain't true! We'll get out of this…somehow…** "

As the two lover's internal conversations finished, the sound of the giant monster came closer and closer to the surface…

STEVEN UNIVERSE/SHEZOW

"Oh I just love a good 'body horror' flick!" exclaimed Bruja, watching Garnet's struggles whilst eating popcorn, "Want some?"

Bruja was asking Steven and the other children (Connie, Peedee, and Onion), bound and gagged on a sofa! Bruja was sitting close by in an outfit that looked like a callback to eighties sit-coms, specifically the babysitter. Wear red leg warmers, a frilly black skirt, and an oversized red-with-black stripes, Bruja had a frizz to her hair which would have been comical, if she wasn't still wearing skull face-paint and holding an oversized revolver in her other hand!

Turning off the screen at the point where Garnet was dogpiled and waiting death, Bruja turned to her 'captive audience' held the revolver close by (spinning the cylinder) and said, "Alright, the next features going to take a bit of time to put together…so how about we play a little game. It's called… _Russian Roulette!_ The rules are simple: there is only **one** bullet in the cylinder, so I am going to put the gun to each of you heads and pull the trigger! The game ends when the gun goes off and one of you is dead! So…let's get started!"

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or SheZow nor any characters or elements that are contained in the series. I only own this story and the original characters (i.e. villains and monsters) and concepts that go with it. Sorry for the delay! Trouble with my wireless. Also Thanksgiving. Hope the story still turned out good and had a Happy Thanksgiving. Read and Review Please!

1 For those of you who aren't aware, Garnet is a 'permafusion' between two Gems: Ruby and Sapphire. And they are about as opposite as fire and ice (Ruby as fire and Sapphire as ice).

2 "2 Heads" by Coleman Hell

3 During the 'internal debates, Ruby's talking will be in bold, while Sapphire will be in italics.

4 As seen in the episode, "Nightmare Hospital"

5 As seen in the episode "Keeping It Together"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Five: American Pie

Pearl slowly opened her eyes to see the evening sky above her. Lifting herself up off the sand, Pearl looked around to find herself in front of the Temple. "How in the world did I get here?" asked Pearl, confused at the change in scenery from her previous local beneath the Aqua Mexican restaurant. Slowly, Pearl made her way up the sand hill towards the Beach House...only to find there was no Beach House!

Frantic, Pearl searched around before realizing that she had somehow been pull into the past! You see, the Beach House had not been built until Steven was about five or seven years old (it was hard sometimes for Pearl to keep track of Steven's age, what with being ageless herself). A missed step caused Pearl to step on…a calendar, specifically no marked for February 3, 2000.(1) Pearl pondered that date before realizing that that was the exact day Steven was born…and when Rose… It was at that moment of realization that that an old guitar began to be strum…(2)

" _ **A long, long time ago**_

 _ **I can still remember how that music used to make me smile**_

 _ **And I knew if I had my chance**_

 _ **That I could make those people dance**_

 _ **And maybe they'd be happy for a while**_

 _ **But February made me shiver**_

 _ **With every paper I'd deliver**_

 _ **Bad news on the doorstep**_

 _ **I couldn't take one more step**_

 _ **I can't remember if I cried**_

 _ **When I read about his widowed bride**_

 _ **But something touched me deep inside**_

 _ **The day the music died**_

Rushing outside, Pearl tried to remember where Rose had Steven on this day. Then she remember…Rose had wanted to see the sunrise as Steven was born. Pearl was about to rush down to the beach when she heard the sound of high-pitched cackling. Turning around, Pearl came face to face with… _ **Peridot!**_

"Oh of all the… I really don't have time to deal with you!" exclaimed Pearl in frustration, hoping to deal with this quickly. The smirk on Peridot's face would seem to suggest otherwise. Leaping backwards and switching her arm to blaster mode, Peridot fired a plasma charge at Pearl, who almost effortlessly dodges before charging at Peridot. Seemingly fading away before appear several feet behind Pearl, Peridot changed her blaster to rapid fire mode and fired a burst of light plasma fire at Pearl. Pearl spun her spear in a circle deflecting the shots before firing an energy shot at Peridot…causing her to disappear…

Pearl immediately began running towards the sight of Steven's birth as the music continued to play…

" _ **So bye, bye, Miss American Pie**_

 _ **Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry**_

 _ **And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey 'n rye**_

 _ **Singin' this'll be the day that I die**_

 _ **This'll be the day that I die**_

Pearl raced forwards, but the journey that should have taken only a few seconds seemed to drag on, like the beach was more massive then she remembered. Pearl rested for a moment before continuing forward, only to be stopped by a burst of black smoke. From the smoke rose a slender _familiar_ figure…a **Black Pearl!** The major difference between Black Pearl and regular Pearl, was that she was wearing a black form fitting gymnast outfit with a yellow diamond prominent on her chest. Also from her pearl, this new Black Pearl pulled out a katana and charged at Crystal Pearl, as the music played on…

" _ **Did you write the book of love**_

 _ **And do you have faith in God above**_

 _ **If the Bible tells you so?**_

 _ **Now do you believe in rock and roll?**_

 _ **Can music save your mortal soul?**_

 _ **And can you teach me how to dance real slow?**_

 _ **Well, I know that you're in love with him**_

 _ **'Cause I saw you dancin' in the gym**_

 _ **You both kicked off your shoes**_

 _ **Man, I dig those rhythm and blues**_

 _ **I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck**_

 _ **With a pink carnation and a pickup truck**_

 _ **But I knew I was out of luck**_

 _ **The day the music died**_

Crystal Pearl immediate blocked Black Pearl's strike with her spear, before shoving the dark copy backwards. The Black Pearl created holographic duplicates to battle Crystal Pearl while she rushed off down the beach. Sensing the Black Pearl was after Rose Quartz, Crystal Pearl managed to leap away from the holo-duplicates and shot them with energy blasts, causing them to disperse. Quickly, Crystal Pearl followed after the dark doppelgänger while the song continued to play…

" _ **I started singing bye, bye, Miss American Pie**_

 _ **Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry**_

 _ **Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey 'n rye**_

 _ **Singin' this'll be the day that I die**_

 _ **This'll be the day that I die**_

Pearl was able to catch up to the dark copy by sending an energy blast at its feet, tripping the assassin up. The dark copy rolled to its feet drawing a second katana and charged at Pearl. Pearl managed to block the strikes and parries, both of them stalemating the other, unable to gain an edge. Then the Black Pearl throw some sand in Pearl's eyes using the distraction as a means to get back to its mission. Pearl wiped the sand out of her eyes and then charged back after the assassin as the music played on…

" _ **Now for ten years we've been on our own**_

 _ **And moss grows fat on a rollin' stone**_

 _ **But that's not how it used to be**_

 _ **When the jester sang for the king and queen**_

 _ **In a coat he borrowed from James Dean**_

 _ **And a voice that came from you and me**_

 _ **Oh, and while the king was looking down**_

 _ **The jester stole his thorny crown**_

 _ **The courtroom was adjourned**_

 _ **No verdict was returned**_

 _ **And while Lenin read a book on Marx**_

 _ **The quartet practiced in the park**_

 _ **And we sang dirges in the dark**_

 _ **The day the music died**_

A strange pink light could be seen in the distance, showing that the pair of Pearls were close to their destination. "I have to stop her!" exclaimed Pearl before doubling her efforts against the dark doppelganger.

The Black Pearl gave a smirk as she held off Pearl's assault and finally spoke, "She'll die either way. By my hands or _**his!**_ What is the point of resisting when you fail to protect her either way?"

Pearl glared at the dark copy's statement before replying, "At least I'll have Steven this way!" With that, Pearl shoved the Black Pearl back and blasted her with an energy blast. Pearl waited for the smoke to clear as the music continued to play…

" _ **We were singing bye, bye, Miss American Pie**_

 _ **Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry**_

 _ **Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey 'n rye**_

 _ **Singin' this'll be the day that I die**_

 _ **This'll be the day that I die**_

Suddenly, the Black Pearl leaped out of the smoked swinging its katana at Pearl's head! Pearl barely managed to duck in time, before reposting with her spear. The Black Pearl leap (in midair) over the spear and land behind Pearl. Now holding a sword at Pearl's neck, the dark assassin stood still, forcing Pearl to do the same…

" _ **Helter skelter in a summer swelter**_

 _ **The birds flew off with a fallout shelter**_

 _ **Eight miles high and falling fast**_

 _ **It landed foul on the grass**_

 _ **The players tried for a forward pass**_

 _ **With the jester on the sidelines in a cast**_

 _ **Now the halftime air was sweet perfume**_

 _ **While the sergeants played a marching tune**_

 _ **We all got up to dance**_

 _ **Oh, but we never got the chance**_

 _ **'Cause the players tried to take the field**_

 _ **The marching band refused to yield**_

 _ **Do you recall what was revealed**_

 _ **The day the music died?**_

"I'll let you in on a secret…" whispered the Black Pearl as she leaned in, sword still at pearl's throat, "I…am…YOU! I am every dark thought and feeling you've had in mind, every dream of strangling that fleshy parasite that took Rose from us, but most importantly…I am every dark idea you've had regarding Steven! You know the ones: 'Would Rose comeback if Steven died?' 'Could I mold Steven into a near perfect image of Rose?' 'Connie could make a great sacrificial pawn for Steven!'"

"NO!" exclaimed Pearl as she grabbed the sword at her throat and shoved it back, adding a punch to the face of the Black Pearl for good measure. Summoning a spear quickly, Pearl reverse the previous situation and held the imposter by the throat, "I would never hurt Steven! It's true…when he was first born I thought up a number of ways to… But in the end I realized…Steven is Rose's last gift to the world! And I won't let YOU take him away!"

" _ **We started singing bye, bye, Miss American Pie**_

 _ **Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry**_

 _ **Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey 'n rye**_

 _ **And singin' this'll be the day that I die**_

 _ **This'll be the day that I die**_

With the last exclamation, Pearl shove the Black Pearl backwards and stabbed it through the chest with her spear! Nearly instantly, the black pearl 'poofed' leaving behind the black pearl from its head. Quickly Pearl turned her spear around and used the butt of the weapon to smash down on the black pearl, instantly shattering it! Panting at the exertion from the whole fight, Pearl slow got up to leave to Steven's birth site, in case something else goes wrong…

" _ **Oh, and there we were all in one place**_

 _ **A generation lost in space**_

 _ **With no time left to start again**_

 _ **So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick**_

 _ **Jack Flash sat on a candlestick**_

 _ **'Cause fire is the devil's only friend**_

 _ **Oh, and as I watched him on the stage**_

 _ **My hands were clenched in fists of rage**_

 _ **No angel born in Hell**_

 _ **Could break that Satan's spell**_

 _ **And as the flames climbed high into the night**_

 _ **To light the sacrificial rite**_

 _ **I saw Satan laughing with delight**_

 _ **The day the music died**_

Slowing down from using up so much of her energy, Pearl made her way to the sight of Steven's birth. As she took three steps, Pearl began to hear a faint sound. Stooping to listen, Pearl heard the sound getting closer and closer, it almost sounded like… Just then Peridot, passed Pearl overhead, her helicopter hand propelling her closer to Rose! Seeing this, Pearl leapt up (despite the pain) and charged ahead trying to get ahead of Peridot…

" _ **He was singing bye, bye, Miss American Pie**_

 _ **Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry**_

 _ **Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey 'n rye**_

 _ **And singin' this'll be the day that I die**_

 _ **This'll be the day that I die**_

Peridot finally took notice of Pearl, turning her other arm at Pearl and firing off a plasma shot! Pearl dodged at the last second and swung her spear, connecting with the plasma shot like a batter with a baseball. This caused the shot to fly back into Peridot's hand propeller forcing the Gem to come crashing to the earth. Pearl raced over hoping to finish the job…

" _ **I met a girl who sang the blues**_

 _ **And I asked her for some happy news**_

 _ **But she just smiled and turned away**_

 _ **I went down to the sacred store**_

 _ **Where I'd heard the music years before**_

 _ **But the man there said the music wouldn't play**_

 _ **And in the streets, the children screamed**_

 _ **The lovers cried and the poets dreamed**_

 _ **But not a word was spoken**_

 _ **The church bells all were broken**_

 _ **And the three men I admire most**_

 _ **The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost**_

 _ **They caught the last train for the coast**_

 _ **The day the music died**_

Racing to the crash site, Pearl looked into the crater in the sand to find…nothing. Pearl looked around trying to find Peridot's gem…only to turn around to find Peridot aiming a plasma shot at her from behind her. Pearl slowly put her hands up, knowing that if Peridot wanting to shoot her she would have done it already. Peridot poked Pearl in the back indicating Pearl needed to move forward…specifically, towards where Rose was having Steven…

" _ **And they were singing bye, bye, Miss American Pie**_

 _ **Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry**_

 _ **And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey 'n rye**_

 _ **Singin' this'll be the day that I die**_

 _ **This'll be the day that I die**_

 _ **They were singing bye, bye, Miss American Pie**_

 _ **Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry**_

 _ **Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey 'n rye**_

 _ **And singin' this'll be the day that I die**_ "

Walking forward slowly, Pearl was now able to make out blurry shape in the distance. More determined than ever to protect Rose and Steven, Pearl turned around and grabbed Peridot's gun arm, much to Peridot's surprise. Unwilling to pull the trigger when they were so close together, Peridot struggle to get Pearl to let go…but to no avail. Peridot decided to pull the mechanical arm off in order to escape only to accidently set off the trigger…

 **FWA-SHOOM!**

A loud explosion ripped the air consuming both Gems! When the smoke cleared Pearl was the only one left standing, Peridot retreating into her gem. Not to say that Pearl got away scot-free, falling to the ground as she faded in and out. In the end, the last sight for Pearl before she disappeared into her gem, was the bittersweet memory of Steven's birth…

STEVEN UNIVERSE/SHEZOW

"BRAVA! ENCORE! Such passion! Such determination! My estimation of Pearl was totally off base! Ah, such is life in art." exclaimed Bruja, like an enthusiastic movie or play goer. Her look complimented this, with a long black evening gown, white feather bola, and black stiletto heels. She was even using opera glasses to watch the show on a big movie screen.

The children were sitting behind her, tied up and gagged like last time, struggling to get free. Bruja turned around, lowering her opera glasses, and said, "Well I'm sure you're all wonder what I have planned for SheZow. Well…you'll find out soon! By the way, remember those refreshments I served earlier? Well…one of the batch was filled with a **deadly,** _lethal_ , _**POISON!**_ That's right and we should be seeing the effects right about… **NOW!** "

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or SheZow nor any characters or elements that are contained in the series. I only own this story and the original characters (i.e. villains and monsters) and concepts that go with it. Sorry for the delays, doctors' appointments and creative burnouts! Plus you know…it's Christmas! Anyway, please Read and Review! (Or let's call it PRAR for short.)

1 Remember the series started in 2012 and Steven was listed as twelve according to various sources. Also realize that I choose the date because of this song…

2 "American Pie" by Don McLean


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Six: Get Down With the Sickness

SheZow woke up groggy, surrounded in darkness. Activating his laser lipstick, SheZow used the device as a glow stick searching the area. Oddly enough, the Crystal Gems were nearby sprawled across the floor, haphazardly. Slowly, SheZow walked towards the closest Gem (Amethyst) and shook her shoulder trying to wake her up…

Amethyst almost immediately shot up with a cry of 'not real' before SheZow grabbed her shoulders using his super strength to hold her down and speak calmly, "Look chill! Whatever it was is over! Come on, we gotta wake the others."

And thus Amethyst and SheZow woke the other Gems, with Pearl's awakening being oddly peacefully while Garnet nearly took off SheZow's head. After hearing the various stories the Gems could relate, SheZow came to a conclusion, "We need to get moving. Bruja does these dream attacks as a distraction. Whatever she's going to do next, it's going to be big…and it's going to be bad."

"Wait…why didn't she put the whammy on you?" asked Amethyst in a snarky tone. Just then the sound of heavy metal music began to play…(1)

" _ **Can you feel that?**_

 _ **Ah, shit**_

 _ **Oh, ah, ah, ah, ah**_

 _ **Oh, ah, ah, ah, ah**_

 _ **Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh**_

"Don't know why she didn't do anything to me, but it doesn't matter right now! That music…it means something bad's about to happen!" exclaimed SheZow as she motioned for the Gems to move but it was too late. The shadows around them began to darken…and something seemed to be moving with red eyes in their depths…

Suddenly various shapes shot out from the shadows into the air, black snakes that were no doubt poisonous with their fangs poised to strike! Pearl block with her spinning spear, while Garnet punched the snakes away and Amethyst grabbed a bunch with her whip and threw it back into the bunch. Unfortunately, one always seemed to get through and take a bit of the Gems. SheZow was unmolested because he used his Super Sonic Shriek to knock the whole lot coming at him back, not realizing the trouble about to emerge…

" _ **Drowning deep in my sea of loathing**_

 _ **Broken your servant I kneel**_

 _ **(Will you give in to me?)**_

 _ **It seems what's left of my human side**_

 _ **Is slowly changing in me**_

 _ **(Will you give in to me?)**_

"You guys okay! …Guys?!" asked SheZow, before turning around to a horrifying sight. The Gems were writhing in pain as the area around the bites darkened. Slowly, the darkening areas grew engulfing the limbs and then the rest of the body. Then the Gems' forms began to reshape themselves into terrible monstrous forms!

For Pearl, feathers sprouted all over his body, while her nose reshaped into a beak. Amethyst's muscles grew into the shape of her Purple Puma form, though claws sprouted on her finger tips. Garnet's form shifted into a more gorilla like posture, the stone from her fist growing to cover her arms. Slowly but surely the Gems were turning into monsters…

" _ **Looking at my own reflection**_

 _ **When suddenly it changes**_

 _ **Violently it changes (oh no)**_

 _ **There is no turning back now**_

 _ **You've woken up the demon in me**_

SheZow backed away his Laser Lipstick pointed at the shifting Gems as they made their final transformation. Garnet had transformation into a massive rock giant in the shape of a gorilla, her three eyes glaring menacingly at SheZow. Amethyst became a feral Purple Puma, with sharp fangs and claws, thick coarse fur, and her whip forming into a lashing tail behind her. Pearl had become equal parts heron and humanoid, gracefully moving from one martial arts form to the next. Fully formed and facing SheZow, the Monster Gems charged at SheZow as the music pace sped up…

" _ **Get up, come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **Get up, come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **Get up, come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **Open up your hate, and let it flow into me**_

 _ **Get up, come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **You mother get up come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **You fucker get up come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **Madness is the gift, that has been given to me**_

SheZow managed to narrowly dodge the first strikes from the Monster Gems. The Monster Gems were scattered when SheZow used his Super Sonic Shriek to blast the group apart. Thankfully, the corrupted Gem could not use all of their abilities, like shapeshifting or their weapons. SheZow still had to use every trick and gadget in his arsenal to keep theses beasts back though. Whelp, time to try a new approach then…

" _ **I can see inside you, the sickness is rising**_

 _ **Don't try to deny what you feel**_

 _ **(Will you give in to me?)**_

 _ **It seems that all that was good has died**_

 _ **And is decaying in me**_

 _ **(Will you give in to me?)**_

"Come on Pearl, I know you're in there!" exclaimed SheZow as he used his Laser Lipstick to hold off Pearl's talons, "We need to get back to saving Steven!" If Pearl understood SheZow, she showed no sign of showing it. Before he could continue, SheZow was grabbed from behind by Garnet. Stuck in a crushing bear hug, SheZow tried to think of something, _anything_ that could get him out of this mess…

" _ **It seems you're having some trouble**_

 _ **In dealing with these changes**_

 _ **Living with these changes (oh no)**_

 _ **The world is a scary place**_

 _ **Now that you've woken up the demon in me**_

Slowly, SheZow reached for a compartment in his Beautility Belt, hoping against all hope it would work like Sheila said it would! Pulling out what looked like a spray can from the compartment, SheZow elbowed Garnet forcing her to let him go. Quickly turning around, SheZow sprayed Garnet with the mysterious spray before leaping out of the way. Garnet slowly made her way towards SheZow slowing down with every step. Finally Garnet stood frozen, a sheen reflecting off her as she settled.

"Guess the new 'SheZow Super Setting Spray' works like a charm!" exclaimed SheZow, before turning to the other two Gems, thus not seeing a piece of the setting material fall off Garnet…

" _ **Get up, come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **Get up, come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **Get up, come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **Open up your hate, and let it flow into me**_

 _ **Get up, come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **You mother get up come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **You fucker get up come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **Madness is the gift, that has been given to me**_

SheZow was quick in in dealing with the other two Gems, since all he needed to do was 'spray and play,' as he so _cleverly_ put it.(2) With all the Gems frozen, SheZow took in the moment before turning down the tunnel…only to be _grabbed by a_ **large rocky hand!** Turning around, SheZow saw that Garnet had gotten out of her trap and then she hurled SheZow into the wall. Lifting himself, SheZow looked to Amethyst and Pearl to see they were still trapped. Igniting his Laser Lipstick and bringing out the Mega Mascara Whiplash, SheZow decided he'd figure out how Garnet got out after dealing with her…

" _ **No mommy, don't do it again**_

 _ **Don't do it again**_

 _ **I'll be a good boy**_

 _ **I'll be a good boy, I promise**_

 _ **No mommy don't hit me**_

 _ **Why did you have to hit me like that, mommy?**_

 _ **Don't do it, you're hurting me**_

 _ **Why did you have to be such a bitch**_

SheZow used the Mascara Whiplash to fend off Garnet like a lion tamer. Garnet stayed back, more out of an animalistic desire to avoid the loud crack of the whip than anything else. SheZow looked back to see that the spray was beginning to wear off on the other Gems as well. _Note to Sheila: put a label on the Super Setting Spray that says '_ _Warning: Effects maybe_ _ **more**_ _temporary when dealing with_ _ **Alien SPACE ROCK PEOPLE!**_ exclaimed SheZow internally…

" _ **Why don't you**_

 _ **Why don't you just fuck off and die**_

 _ **Why can't you just fuck off and die**_

 _ **Why can't you just leave here and die**_

 _ **Never stick your hand in my face again bitch**_

 _ **Fuck you**_

 _ **I don't need this shit**_

 _ **You stupid sadistic abusive fucking whore**_

 _ **How would you like to see how it feels mommy**_

 _ **Here it comes, get ready to die**_

Deciding he had no other choice, SheZow ran towards Garnet…and bisected her with the Laser Lipstick! Garnet froze for a moment, before falling into two halves and disappearing into a ruby and a sapphire. SheZow stood confused for a moment before the other two Gems charged him after breaking the Setting Spray. Quickly, SheZow wrapped the Mascara Whiplash around Amethyst and hurled her into Pearl. The two slammed into the wall, which SheZow followed up with the brand new Napalm Hair Dryer, an exchange for the grappling hook Sheila created after SheZow gained the ability to fly!

Shooting out a massive stream of heat at the downed Gems, Pearl and Amethyst retreated into their gems. Slowly moving forward, SheZow picked up the gems, surprisingly not at all hot from the flames used previously, and put them into a pocket in the Beautility Belt. Walking over to the ruby and sapphire, SheZow was surprised by the fact that the Gems were glowing! Seeing them rise into the air, SheZow crouched into a battle stance ready for the fight to continue…

" _ **Oh, ah, ah, ah, ah**_

 _ **Get up, come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **Get up, come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **Get up, come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **Open up your hate, and let it flow into me**_

 _ **Get up, come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **You mother get up come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **You fucker get up come on get down with the sickness**_

 _ **Madness has now come over me**_ "

The Gems flashed to reveal…Ruby and Sapphire had reformed and perfectly normal to boot! SheZow stared in shock at the two _new_ Gems that had appeared before him. While Sheila admitted that the past SheZows had not been able to gather much information on the Crystal Gems, the full roster seemed kind of important! The newly formed Gems blinked their eyes with Ruby being the first to react to the situation, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! This is just…arrrgh! I knew bringing him along was a bad idea!"

"Yet if it were not for SheZow, we would have trapped in that monstrous shape, perhaps even permanently. Calm down my love this is an easily fixed issues." stated Sapphire with her usual calm tone.

"Fiiinnnneee… Let's get the others and get out of here!" said Ruby exasperated that her love was right.

It was at this moment that SheZow made herself know, "Excuse me! Could I get an explanation here?! How long have you two been a fusion?!"

"How do you even know about fusions in the first place?!" exclaimed Ruby, suspicious of SheZow's knowledge.

"Look, I'm gonna level with you on something… _I'm not the first SheZow!_ I'm sure you remember some of my…predecessors. Well, after that, every SheZow monitored you and any other possible alien sighting. Most of them were hoaxes, but still I got a lot of intel on you. Though obviously not enough to know that **Garnet was a Fusion!** " explained SheZow, just as the other Gems reformed.

"You've been spying on us!" exclaimed Pearl, having heard the tail end of the conversation, "Has it every occurred to you that Bruja could have used you methods to spy on us as well? This whole situation is because you-"

"ENOUGH!" exclaimed Sapphire, "This is not the actions of the present SheZow. You forget…humans barely live to be one hundred years old. Besides, he did not know that about Garnet being a Fusion while Bruja did. She must be using some other means of spying on us."

"Oh, it's a little of column A, but mostly column B!" announced a voice over a hidden speaker, that voice being…

"BRUJA! Finally ready to come out and fight!" shouted Amethyst ready to take her frustration out on the psychotic supervillainess.

"Oh I simply need to a get a good…feel for my opponents. Hours of surveillance and historical accounts only tells you so much. Let me give you my results: Pearl is a basket-case over a Gem who used her like a tool, Garnet is impressive, but pathetic when separated, and Amethyst…well the less said about a lost, empty, killing machine trying to fill the void in her life, the better! Also my toxin seems to work quite well: just enough of a mix of monster and Gem to be useful. Oh I can't wait to see the final version!" explained Bruja over the intercom.

Ruby and Sapphire quickly fused back into Garnet before loudly declaring, "You have only seen a _glimpse_ of our abilities! Why don't you stop hiding and face if you're so confident of your success!" Inspired by Garnet's words, the Gems and SheZow brought their weapons to bear, waiting for the fight ahead.

Rather than being intimidated, however, Bruja simply laughed and said, "HAHAHAHA! Oh, so _inspirational!_ Well, as they say, if you want something done right…"

Just then a section of the wall in front of the group opened up revealing…a nightmarish twist on both a fun house and a casino!(3) It was a tacky glow-in-the-dark blacklight set dominate by a massive roulette wheel that a person could walk on. The Gems and SheZow walked forward to see that the missing children (including Steven and Connie were hanging over a bubbling vat in the center of the roulettes wheel. Rushing forward, the group stop to the sound of the wall closing behind them. Confuse, the group looked up to see a lowering platform.

On the platform was La Bruja, clad in the cut out black dress of earlier, though the blacklights added knew details. They revealing intricate pagan designs on the dress, made the bone scepter more noticeable as well as the painted bones on Bruja's body, but more importantly, her eyes held a mad gleam reflect in their amber depths. As the platform stopped just before reaching the floor, Bruja finished her early thought in a deeper, more menacing voice, " **DO IT YOURSELF! BWAHAHAHAHA!** "

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or SheZow nor any characters or elements that are contained in the series. I only own this story and the original characters (i.e. villains and monsters) and concepts that go with it. Well this has been an exhausting couple of days. Unfortunately, it looks like I might be trapped in my house for at least until Tuesday. The guy who is supposed to dig out the driveway doesn't look like he'll come today. Just gotta keep it cool. Anyway, as always, please Read and Review!

1 "Down with the Sickness" by Disturbed

2 I sometimes hate the overuse of puns in 'SheZow!'

3 Think of Oogie Boogie's Lair in the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Seven: Back in Black!

So there they were…in a mad funhouse of Bruja's own creation. The children the Crystal Gems and SheZow came to rescue dangling over a glowing boiling vat of unknown substance, while the maniac responsible was standing in front of them laughing like a maniac. Eventually, Bruja calmed down and stared down at the heroes with a smirk on her face before saying, "Oh, it's been fun watching you Gems work through your nightmares. Really…it's given me some ideas on future projects! But all things must come to an end, as they say. So…before we get this _lucha libre_ started, I will allow each of you one question that I will answer truthfully. So, how about we start with…Amethyst!"

Amethyst glanced around as the other looked at her expectantly, before she finally asked her question, "Why'd you take the kids?"

"Really, I was hoping for something a little more… _relevant_ to the situation." said La Bruja exasperatedly, before continuing, "The truth is, I was really only after Stevie-boy here. But once I had the rest, I realized 'more hostages!' Plus SheZow would no doubt stick his pre-teen nose into my business, so…win-win."

Garnet decided to ask the next question, "What was in the venom of the snakes you unleashed on us?"

"Ah, finally a relevant question." replied Bruja, "You see…ever since I learned about the Gem species and their relation to certain…monsters, I began studying what would cause corruption in your species. It turns out that other than physical damage to the Gem, _emotional_ factors can lead to the transformation. Care to guess which emotions I found worked the best? You might be surprised…

"Grief. Self-loathing. Despair. These are the emotions most prominent after a large scale civil war that end inconclusively-"

"There was nothing inconclusive about the end! We saved the Earth!" exclaimed Pearl in outrage.

Bruja simply laughed and replied, "Saved the Earth?! Oh, you really don't know what Peridot came here to do, do you?! And even if you somehow get rid of it and keep the girls back home from finding out your involvement…Someone back home's got a hard on for the destruction of this planet! Next time it won't be one ship…it'll be an **armada** capable of wiping the life clean from the planet!"

"Now, I'm counting that as your question Pearl. So now it falls to SheZow to ask the correct question." explained Bruja while pointing to SheZow.

SheZow carefully took a few minutes to ponder his question, "What exactly do you plan on doing with the 'misery potion'?"

Bruja gave an evil smirk pulled out a remote from a secret pocket and said, "I'll show you!" Pushing the button on the remote, the children suspended over the vat began to slowly descend to the toxic mix. The Gems and SheZow rushed forward…only to push by a black shockwave. "You fools have no idea what you dealing with. I not just upping my game, I'm…"(1)

" _ **Back in black I hit the sack**_

 _ **I been too long I'm glad to be back**_

 _ **Yes I am**_

 _ **Let loose from the noose**_

 _ **That's kept me hanging about**_

 _ **I keep looking at the sky cause it's gettin' me high**_

 _ **Forget the hearse cause I'll never die**_

 _ **I got nine lives cat's eyes**_

 _ **Using every one of them and runnin' wild**_

 _ **Cause I'm baaaaack**_

 _ **Yes I'm baaaack well I'm baaack**_

 _ **Yes I'm baaaack**_

 _ **Well I'm baaaack**_

 _ **Well I'm baaack in blaaack**_

 _ **Yes I'm baaack in blaaack**_

 _ **Back in the back of a Cadillac**_

 _ **Number one with a bullet I'm a power pack**_

 _ **Yes I am**_

 _ **In a bang with the gang**_

 _ **They gotta catch me if they want me to hang**_

 _ **Cause I'm back on the track and I'm beatin' the flack**_

 _ **Nobody's gonna get me on another rap**_

 _ **So look at me now I'm just makin' my play**_

 _ **Don't try to push your luck just get out of my way**_

 _ **Cause I'm back**_

 _ **Yes I'm back**_

 _ **Well I'm back**_

 _ **Yes I'm back**_

 _ **Well I'm back back**_

 _ **Well I'm back in black**_

 _ **Yes I'm back in black**_

Suddenly the rock song blared across speakers, with Bruja lip-syncing to the song. The Gems and SheZow charged at Bruja again, hoping to catch her off guard will the music was playing. Boy, were they wrong! If anything, Bruja seemed more focused and powerful while going along with the music, using her bone staff to deflect attack and knock back her attackers.

Struggling to get up, the heroes were surprised by Bruja seemingly blurring to Pearl position and knocking her into the air with an uppercut! As Pearl flew through the air, Bruja leapt up and spin kicked Pearl into the ground, causing the ground to crack. Garnet charged at Bruja, who smirked before vanishing behind Garnet with an elbow strike to the back. Amethyst watched this in frustration, angrily asking, "Okay, how do we stop this freak?"

"Usually, the song is what's effecting her abilities. Plus this will one a lot shorter. Meaning she should run outta steam once the song ends." explained SheZow. Meanwhile, Bruja stopped 'playing with Garnet and Pearl and turned to Amethyst and SheZow…and split in two!

"What the-?" SheZow started to ask before the Bruja with a topaz charged forward, kicking him into a wall. The only difference between the two Brujas was one had a topaz in one hand, while the other a sapphire in the same hand. They still have a ruby in the other hand but of a different shape. SheZow, recognizing the gems, knew they had something to do with Bruja's new powers. This was going to be a tough fight…

" _ **Well I'm back yes I'm back**_

 _ **Well I'm back yes I'm back**_

 _ **Well I'm back back**_

 _ **Well I'm back in black**_

 _ **Yes I'm back in black**_

As SheZow and Amethyst were busy fight the duo of Brujas, Pearl and Garnet picked themselves off the ground. "We have to free the children, now!" declared Garnet, before she and Pearl rushed towards the hostages being lowered into the vat. However, out of the pair of Brujas' back sprout…another set of clones! The clones with rubies continued to fight Amethyst and SheZow while the new paired charged a tackled Pearl and Garnet. As the group fought, neither of them noticed Connie pull something shiny from her pocket…

" _ **Ho yeah**_

 _ **Oh yeah**_

 _ **Yes I am**_

 _ **Oh yeah, yeah oh yeah**_

 _ **Back in**_ _**now**_

The group continued to fight, neither side possessing a distinct advantage…until the Brujas pulled out brand new weapons from the gems on their hands! The 'Sapphire' pulled out an energy whip, the 'Topaz' a pair of _kamas_ , whilst the 'Rubies' pulled out a tiger claw(2) each. Each of the Brujas seemed to be quite proficient in their chosen weapons, adding a whole new dimension to the fight. Meanwhile, the children grew closer to the vat of dangerous chemicals…

" _ **Well I'm baaack, I'm baaaack**_

 _ **Baaack, (I'm baaack)**_

 _ **Baaack, (I'm baaack)**_

 _ **Baaack, (I'm baaack)**_

 _ **Baaack, (I'm baaack)**_

 _ **Baaack**_

 _ **Back in black**_

 _ **Yes I'm baaack in blaaaaack**_

Garnet tried to fight off the Rubies to allow Pearl to reach the children…only for Pearl to be forced to dodged buzz saw blades appearing in the floor! One of the Rubies then grabbed Pearl's leg, dragging her back into the fight. Meanwhile, Amethyst was in a duel of whips with Sapphire, who was surprisingly good with a whip. Topaz was holding off SheZow, blocking with one of the kamas while attacking with the other one. It got to a point where SheZow had to use her Super Shriek to get the Bruja clone to back off…straight into the Sapphire! Hurrying Amethyst and SheZow rushed to the vat, hoping they weren't too late…

" _ **Outta sight**_ "

"You're TOO LATE! HAHAHAHA!" said the Bruja double simultaneously. Looks up, the heroes saw that she was right…the rope holding the children had already plunged deep into the vat. Laughing, Bruja 'pulled herself together' turning back into her four armed singular state and pressed another button on the remote. The rope began to ascend revealing…that the rope had been cut, and the children weren't tied to it anymore! Puzzled, Bruja stared at the rope trying to figure out where her hostage had gone…

"HEY!" exclaimed Connie, as she threw the blade she had used to free the children at Bruja. The blade sailed through the air…and struck Bruja right in the eye! Screaming in pain, Bruja moved to yank the blade out of her eye, distracting her long enough for the children to reach our group of heroes. Finally, getting the blade out of her eye, Bruja blinked several times as her eye repaired itself. Turning around in a fury, Bruja's hands glowed with the energy from the gems imbedded in them.

"So…how did my little song birds escape their cage?!" asked Bruja angrily.

"Next you start throwing knives everywhere, make sure you count them before and _after_." explained Connie in an acidic tone. Rather than being afraid of the maniac, Connie was just that much more determined to see Bruja in jail!

Furious at being shown up by a _child_ , Bruja summoned all of her Gem weapons and combined them to form…a strange spiked whip! The handle had the kama blades at the bottom, while the tiger claws formed a star-like blade at the other end of the whip. Twirling around, Bruja swung the weapon at the group, who duck or dodged as needed. What Bruja did not seem to realize was that when twirling above her head, Bruja kept hitting the vat behind her, leaving multiple scratches on the shatter-proof glass. Seeing this, Garnet got ready for Bruja's next strike…

And then launched her rocket fist straight into Bruja's guts, knocking the wind out of her and knocking her into the weakened spot on the vat! Seeing what Garnet had planned, the other Gems and SheZow grabbed the children and leapt up into the rafters. Bruja picked herself up, annoyed at Garnet's attack…then heard the sound of glass cracking. Curious, she turned around to see that the heavy blow to the weakened section of the tank was splitting the vat open. Bruja was only able to stand in shock before the whole broke open, showering her in broken glass and the toxic material it held.

The heroes shield the children eyes and ears just as Bruja began to shriek in a blood curdling manner! Looking down, the heroes saw that Bruja was melting as if she had been dunked in acid. Flesh and clothes gave way to organs and bones which then slowly dissolved away, leaving behind only the gems in her hands. The toxic chemical slowly dissipate, leave the gems and the bare floor. The heroes jumped down, Garnet quickly collecting the four gemstones into a bubble and transported it to the Crystal Temple.

SheZow took this moment to look after the children to see if they were alright. Onion and Peedee were shaken but alright, Steven rushed over to the Crystal Gems for a warm group hug, while Connie stood away. "Hey what's up with you kid?" asked SheZow, making sure to keep his falsetto tone.

"It's just…I never attack anyone like that before…and now she's dead. And I don't even feel bad about it!" exclaimed Connie.

"Look, I'm not saying it's okay to be violent or anything, but you were protecting yourself. Beside, _you_ didn't kill Bruja! If anything, she set herself up for a-" SheZow started to reassure Connie until she stopped suddenly at a realization. Bruja's strength comes from feeding off of misery and pain, which that tank was filled with a concentration of! There's no way that should have hurt her at all!

Shooting up SheZow rushed over to Garnet and frantically asked, "Where are the gemstones?!"

Garnet look curious, before her returning future vision revealed the horrible mistake she had made….

STEVEN UNIVERSE

 _Back at the Crystal Temple…_

All was quite in Garnet's room of the temple, the capture Gems still in their bubbles. Then the bubble containing the Reality Gems appeared floating for a moment before a black smoke filled the bubble. Suddenly it burst filled Garnet's room with darkness… **and maniacal laughter!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or SheZow nor any characters or elements that are contained in the series. I only own this story and the original characters (i.e. villains and monsters) and concepts that go with it. Just two more chapters! I know the wait between updates is excruciating. Please read and review!

1 "Back in Black" by AC/DC

2 Basically a set of 'Wolverine claws' strapped to the wrist, sometimes used to scale buildings.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Eight: Welcome to the Jungle (We Are the Crystal Gems)

The Crystal Gems, SheZow, Steven Universe, and Connie Maheswaran were seen rushing back to the Crystal Temple! "What's going on?!" asked a panicked Steven. After dropping off Onion and Peedee (and the refusal to leave Steven's side by Connie) the group immediately began rushing back to the Crystal Temple, with SheZow and Garnet knowing the reason.

"Bruja tricked us!" exclaimed SheZow, "This whole…thing was a just a way for her to lose the fight in a convincing way. She winds up the Gems with the psychological warfare so they'd go for the kill."

"Wait what? Why would she do that?!" asked Amethyst not seeing why someone would go through all that just to lose.

It was Pearl who understood what SheZow and Garnet was seeing, "To get inside the Crystal Temple! The defenses are designed to only allow us inside, but captured gems are teleported _around_ those defenses. Subconsciously, she wanted us to think of her as just another monster we fight. Thus, we wouldn't think anything of it when we bubbled her and sent her to the temple."

"But I thought Gems could not escape the bubbles." stated Steven wondering how Bruja worked around that fact.

" **But** Bruja is not a Gem! I don't know what exactly to call her, but she must have some way of getting out of the bubbles on her own. Hopefully we won't be too late." finished Pearl just as the group arrived in front of the Crystal Temple.

"Oh good, we're not too late. Now let's stop this-" started Connie before rock guitar chords pierced the air. The ground shook as the tempo increased. A loud explosion came with the introduction of drums as out of the Crystal Temple emerged… _ **a large five headed serpent!**_ (1)

" _ **Welcome to the jungle**_

 _ **We've got fun 'n' games**_

 _ **We got everything you want**_

 _ **Honey, we know the names**_

 _ **We are the people that can find**_

 _ **Whatever you may need**_

 _ **If you got the money, honey**_

 _ **We got your disease**_

 _ **In the jungle**_

 _ **Welcome to the jungle**_

 _ **Watch it bring you to your**_

 _ **knees, knees**_

 _ **I wanna watch you bleed**_

The Bruja serpent (as it could not be anyone else but Bruja with the Reality Gems in four out of five heads) reared out of the destroyed remains of the Crystal Temple while the group stared in horror! Then, the snake heads unfurled cobra hoods and gave a menacing hiss. Jumping out of the way, the group _barely_ managed to escape a blast of caustic venom… _familiar_ caustic venom…

"SheZow! Get the children out of here! We'll hold off this **monstrosity!** " exclaimed Pearl. Normally SheZow would complain about getting 'sidekick duties', but seeing as how the heroes did not need distractions, SheZow complied. Grabbing Steven and Connie, SheZow super-sped his way away from the fight.

"Hey Pearl…how exactly are we going to 'hold it off'?" asked Amethyst.

It was Garnet who answered, "We bring out the big guns." Seeing what she was getting at Pearl and Amethyst joined with Garnet in a brief fusion dance to create… **Alexandrite!**

" _ **Welcome to the jungle**_

 _ **We take it day by day**_

 _ **If you want it you're gonna bleed**_

 _ **But it's the price you pay**_

 _ **And you're a very sexy girl**_

 _ **That's very hard to please**_

 _ **You can taste the bright lights**_

 _ **But you won't get them for free**_

 _ **In the jungle**_

 _ **Welcome to the jungle**_

 _ **Feel my, my, my serpentine**_

 _ **I, I wanna hear you scream**_

To the surprise of the massive fusion, the Bruja-Hydra began to laugh. " _ **HAHAHAHAHAHA!**_ _You don't really think that hodgepodge fusion can beat us do you?_ **Yeah! We're the ultimate powerhouse!** Untold numbers of Gems brought to the brink of insanity… **And we rule them all!** _There ain't nothing you can do to stop us!_ _**NAHAHAHAHAHA!**_ " Each of the heads were speaking in their own voices, one a _low hiss_ , the next a **deep growl** , the third a stately Shakespearian tone, the fourth a **rumbling roar** , and finally a _high pitched cackle_. But despite the differences in tone and volume, they heads were all unmistakable sides of La Bruja!

With a smirk from her smaller mouth, Alexandrite replied, "We'll see about that!" And with that, Alexandrite summoned Garnet's Fists and Amethyst's Whip to formed Sugilite's Flail! With a roar from her larger mouth, Alexandrite charged forward to be the insane savage monster to the ground…

" _ **Welcome to the jungle**_

 _ **It gets worse here everyday**_

 _ **Ya learn ta live like an animal**_

 _ **In the jungle where we play**_

 _ **If you got a hunger for what you see**_

 _ **You'll take it eventually**_

 _ **You can have anything you want**_

 _ **But you better not take it from me**_

Swiftly dodging the Flail, Bruja-Hydra grabbed the Flail hoping to use it to smash Alexandrite into the cliff face or the beach. In an interesting twist Alexandrite instead summoned Pearl's Spear and used the momentum from Bruja-Hydra's pull to spear the monster into the cliff face! Shocked by this turnabout, the monster could only flail in agony, while Alexandrite smirked. Unfortunately, Bruja-Hydra quickly learned to use her snake heads as arms and pulled out the Spear. Looking around, Bruja-Hydra twirled the Spear tossing up the sand of the beach, which slowly formed solid objects…

" _ **In the jungle**_

 _ **Welcome to the jungle**_

 _ **Watch it bring you to your**_

 _ **knees, knees**_

 _ **I wanna watch you bleed**_

 _ **And when you're high you never**_

 _ **Ever want to come down, YEAH!**_

Suddenly, Alexandrite was struck by a massive sandy fist! It seemed that Bruja-Hydra had gained the Desert Glass' ability to control sand.(2) Which could only mean that Bruja-Hydra had the power of **all** the gemstone she had just stolen. " _I see you now understand the depth of your…situation._ Yes, with all of the abilities of the corrupted Gems at our command… **You can only watch helplessly as we destroyed this world you claim to protect!** **Your failure is now COMPLETE!** _Oooh, and we can't wait to get our hands on dear Stevie! It's going to be DELICIOUS! HAHAHAHAHA!_ " exclaimed the various voices of the Bruja-Hydra as they charged forward at Alexandrite…

" _ **You know where you are**_

 _ **You're in the jungle baby**_

 _ **You're gonna die**_

 _ **In the jungle**_

 _ **Welcome to the jungle**_

 _ **Watch it bring you to your**_

 _ **knees, knees**_

 _ **In the jungle**_

 _ **Welcome to the jungle**_

 _ **Feel my, my, my serpentine**_

 _ **In the jungle**_

 _ **Welcome to the jungle**_

 _ **Watch it bring you to your**_

 _ **knees, knees**_

 _ **In the jungle**_

 _ **Welcome to the jungle**_

 _ **Watch it bring you to your**_

 _ **It's gonna bring you down-HA!**_ "

The force of the impact of Bruja-Hydra's charge sent Alexandrite crashing into the waves. Alexandrite quickly sat up and summoned Garnet's Gauntlets to charge forward and tackle the monster. The two combatants wrestle on the ground, trying to find some way to overpower the other. Thankfully, Alexandrite had the most limbs so she had an advantage over the slithering horror, at least for now…

Suddenly, tentacles sprouted from the monsters scales, wrapping around Alexandrite! _The Slinker?!_ thought Alexandrite, principally Garnet and Amethyst, as the tentacles squeezed and the monster laughed. Thankfully, _Garnet_ had just the ability to handle this situation calling down a bolt of lightning from the heavens. Electrocuted, Bruja-Hydra writhed in agony releasing her grip on Alexandrite, allowing her to leap back and start thinking of a new strategy.

Deciding to try a long range approach, Alexandrite summoned Opal's Bow and Arrow and shot a Multi-Arrow at the Bruja-Hydra. Every single one of the arrows struck Bruja-Hydra in a massive explosion each, causing the cliff face and the lighthouse on top of it to crash down on the monster! A cloud of smoke lay thick through the area, causing Alexandrite to change the Bow back into a Spear so that she could twirl it and blow back the dust. The dust dispelled to reveal…that Bruja had vanished…

Suddenly, the Hydra monster shot up from beneath Alexandrite's feet, encircling the Fusion and squeezing in its coils! " _ **YOU…HAVE…FAILED!**_ _Knew you couldn't do it!_ **And once we're finished with YOU, Steven's next!** _So why don't you sleep…_ **Just like ROSE!** "

"Fat chances, snake lips!" exclaimed SheZow over the speaker system of She-C-10 flying in front of the struggling duo. Firing pink lasers at the central head, SheZow managed to loosed Bruja-Hydra's hold enough for Alexandrite to escape. Alexandrite turned to the She-C-10 and said, "Thanks for the save! Glad to see that Connie and Steven made it to safety."

"Yeah…about that…" SheZow said hesitantly, before Steven appeared in the cockpit window and waved at Alexandrite.

Alexandrite eyes bulged, showing the shock and fear the component Gems had at Steven being so close to danger and exclaimed, "WHAT IS STEVEN DOING HERE?!" 

Steven politely grabbed the mike from SheZow and said, "There is no way I am leaving you to fight this thing on your own! _We're_ the Crystal Gems! That means we fight together…as a team…as a **family!** " As Steven gave his emotional appeal, a tear ran down one of Alexandrite's eyes...

"How sweet! Such a warmth it brings to my belly… **Oh wait, that's just my stomach turning at such idiotic SENTIMENT!** " declared the Bruja-Hydra before leaping to attack the She-C-10! Thankfully, SheZow pulled away just in time as Alexandrite grabbed Bruja-Hydra's tail, pulling her back and slamming her into the cliff side. Angered at this delay, Bruja-Hydra turned to look around…and spotted Beach City. An evil grin formed on her faces as she hatched a truly wicked idea…

"You all have two choices facing you: you can either stop us from leaving… _or you can save the helpless humans of BEACH CITY! HAHAHAHA!_ " exclaimed Bruja-Hydra as corrupted Gem **sprouted** from her scales and ran towards the City!

Alexandrite turned to protect the City, before the She-C-10 flew in front of the Fusion while SheZow explained, "Don't worry! I brought in some backup…"

SHEZOW/STEVEN UNIVERSE

 _In Beach City at the same time…_

The Corrupted Gems charged at the _seemingly_ helpless city. Only to be stopped by a wall of fire! Stopping in their tracks, The Corrupted got a first-hand look as Uma Thermal and the rest of the Super Hero Action Guild descended from the sky…

STEVEN UNIVERSE/SHEZOW

"Figured the old witch might try something like this. Good thing I've got a whole army of Superheroes on speed dial! Now let's take this witch down!" exclaimed SheZow, while Alexandrite turned with a confident smirk towards Bruja-Hydra. The serpentine super-villainess was actually starting to get worried: that 'send monsters at the city' was her one of her last desperate gambit! Well, not **the** last…

With a shriek of pain the serpentine heads of Bruja hydra began to pull away from each…literally! Each of the head separated into their own body, before circling around the Fusion. Then the two heads with rubies spat fire from their mouth, engulfing the Fusion, while the topaz and sapphire head leapt at the She-C-10, which kept just out of their reach. All the while the main head, sat by and watched the fireworks…

Suddenly, Alexandrite burst out of the inferno using Garnet's Fist to grab the Ruby heads by their mouths! Spinning around, Alexandrite hurled the heads at the Sapphire and Topaz snakes causing them to land in a pile on the beach. Seeing this, the main head moved to the pile and fused with the other snakes back into the Bruja-Hydra. Alexandrite smirked confidently and asked the monster, "Got anything else?"

The Bruja Hydra glared with all of its head before lower Topaz head spotted something at the Temple and said, " _Actually…yes we do!_ " And with that the Hydra was dragged towards the Temple by the Topaz head! The She-C-10 fired several pink lasers blasts to try to keep the monster from whatever its objective was but none of the shots were quite strong enough.

Soon the monster arrived at the remains of the Crystal Temple, the Topaz head showing the others what it had discovered. And with that, a horrible evil grin appeared on all of the heads. Alexandrite and the She-C-10 rushed over to see the monster pull out…the Crystal Heart! Power source for the Crystal Gem's Temple, it is in many ways a stable nuclear generator which could reliably run for thousands, perhaps even millions, of years. However, like every powerful reactor, the truly creative could turn the device into a bomb…

" _Looks like I got your heart in my hand!_ Oh very clever. **Nothing to it.** **Take one step closer and Beach City will be literally erased from the map!** _**In fact, why bother waiting…**_ " exclaimed Bruja-Hydra, looking ready to pull something off the delicate reactor.

"STOP!" exclaimed Steven over the intercom, "If you want me you can have me. Just leave Beach City out of this."

The monster was intrigued by the offer. In its minds, the Gems would be less likely to attack them if Steven was the hostage rather than Beach City. Plus, turning their previous 'victory' completely on its head just sounded so amusing. "Very well. The trade will be simultaneous. Steven…for Beach City." Stick out the two heads holding Steven and the Crystal Heart, Alexandrite headed for the generator while the She-C-10 moved to drop off Steven.

Slowly the exchange was made, with Alexandrite grabbing the Heart from Bruja's grasp while the She-C-10 sped away. Alexandrite gently put the reactor down before turning to strike the monster…only to be shown Steven dangling in his grasp. Alexandrite glared at SheZow, only to see his shocked face. The plan had been to use Steven's sincerity to trick Bruja into getting nothing. Only neither of them had the time to tell Steven so he must have been at an open door ready to jump just before SheZow backed away.

"Well, well, well. So much planning, so much back and forth, but we still hold the prize! _And you can do nothing, because I got Stevie-boy in our hands._ **And now you can watch him die!** " declared the Beast before lifting Steven up to its main head, ready to swallowing him.

"Why are you doing this?!" asked Steven, not understanding Bruja's thought process at all.

The heads each decided to give their own answer, fulfilling in their minds Steven's last request, "Because I can… **because I want to** … _because I'm smarter than them_ … **because I'm stronger than them** … _but most importantly, because it's FUN!_ _**NAHAHAHAHAHA!**_ "

But Steven rather than panicked or disgusted by Bruja's answer gave his own reply, "I sounds more like you're lonely." Steven paused seeing Bruja's puzzled expression, "It's like with my friend Onion. Sure he can be…a little weird and cause the occasional random fire."

"Wait what?!" asked SheZow, alarmed at Steven's choice in friends.

"But he only does these kinds of things because he wants to spend more time with his dad! SheZow told me about what happened with your parents…how they pushed you to be the best, maybe even a little too hard. I guess what I'm trying to say is that…if you're willing, I can be your first friend. What'd ya say, huh?" asked Steven, stick out his hand in a symbolic gesture of friendship.

All of the heads looked at Steven for a moment…perhaps thinking of actually taking Steven up on his offer…only to drop Steven into the main heads mouth and be swallowed! A small belch issued from the mouth, while Alexandrite and SheZow looked on in horror, to which Bruja responded, " **Oh as if I really need that little brat for anything!** _Yeah I got all the friends I need in the voices in my head! HAHAHA!_ 'grumble' Oh _, looks like Steven doesn't agree with me._ **No matter, soon I'll have dealt with all of my-** 'grumble' 'cough' What…what's going on?!"

Slowly, a pink light began to shine from a panicking Bruja. The light intensified as a familiar song began to play…3

"[ _Steven] If you're evil and you're on the rise_

 _You can count on the four of us taking you down_

 _'Cause we're good and evil never beats us_

 _We'll win the fight and then go out for pizzas_

With Steven singing the first verse of the song, a pink cascade of light erupted from the Hydra, splitting it into it individual heads! Shocked looks spread on the villain's faces, while Alexandrite split apart to allow the three component Gems to give a hug to the shivering Steven while he kept singing, prompting the Gems to join in the next verse…

" _We are the Crystal Gems_

 _We'll always save the day_

 _And if you think we can't_

 _We'll always find a way_

Having gotten over their shock at the turn of events, the Bruja-Heads turned on the Gems, hissing with hatred! The Crystal Gems with a coordinated defense, Amethyst taking the Topaz Head, while Garnet took both Rubies and Pearl took the Sapphire. The lead head sank beneath the sand waiting for the Gems to become distract. Meanwhile, the song continued, with each Gem having their own verse to sing…

" _That's why the people of this world believe in_

 _Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, and Steven!_

 _[Pearl] If you could only know, what we really are_

 _When we arrived on Earth, from out beyond your star_

 _We were amazed to find, your beauty and your worth_

 _And we will protect your kind,_

 _And we will protect your Earth_

 _And we will protect your Earth,_

 _And we will protect you!_

Pearl seemed to be truly inspired by the song, dancing around the ice spewing serpent. She sang about her reasons to defend the Earth as she made strikes against the evil witch. The serpents were slowly gaining human characteristics like arms and a feminine physique. As if the song was slowly weakening the monster…

" _[Garnet] I will fight for the place where I'm free!_

 _To live together and exist as me!_

 _[Pearl] I will fight in the name of Rose Quartz!_

 _And everything that she believed in!_

 _[Amethyst] I will fight for the world I was made in!_

 _The Earth is everything I've ever known!_

 _[Steven] I will fight to be everything that everybody wants me to be when I'm grown!_

As each Gem sang their portion of the song, they delivered a death blow which shatter the Reality Gems, causing each serpent to disappear. Shocked at this increasing turnaround, Bruja assume her human form (minus the each set of arms) and glanced around for anything to help…only to see the Super Hero Action Guild as well as the citizens of Beach City rushing over to help! But rather than be deterred by the arrival of reinforcements for the Crystal Gems, Bruja could only grin in evil glee…

" _[Crystal Gems] The odds are against us, this won't be easy but we're not going to do it alone!_

 _We are the Crystal Gems!_

 _We'll always save the day_

 _And if you think we can't_

 _We'll always find a way_

 _That's why the people of this world_

 _[Greg] Believe in_

 _Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl and Steven!_

Taking a deep breath, Bruja turned into the direction of the rushing help and spewed a poisonous fog of death! Steven leapt in front of the fog and summoned a massive shield wall. The Gems immediately leapt into action each taking a shot at the distracted villainess. Meanwhile, Greg finished the song, all the while staring with pride at his son. Hearing his approval, Steven beamed with pride, both figuratively _and literally!_

Bruja was caught in the wake of the rising light, knocking her back several feet. SheZow landed the She-C-10 moving to restrained Bruja…only to stop dead at the sight. What most people did not realize was that youth was one of the abilities that Bruja was given with her powers. I mean, she was at least as old as the last SheZow who was born in the 1940s! That age now showed through as Bruja lay on the ground, wrinkles and gray hair included, plus her designer outfit had become ratty and torn.

Steven and the Gems also walked over, as Bruja awoke with a groan. Looking around, the villainess realized she was surround by not just the Crystal Gems and SheZow, but by all the residences of Beach City and the Supper Hero Action Guild. In the end, Bruja turned a baleful eye at Steven Universe, "How did you do that?"

Surprised by the question, Steven tried his best to answer, "Well, to be honest, I'd been working on that song for a while now. I think my dad might have actually-"

"No, you idiot! You know as well as I do that when I swallowed, I dropped you into a pit of eternal misery. All the mistakes of your life, all of your inadequacies, thrown right at you. You should a shriveled miserable pile of despair and angst, trust I know all of your failings. So how can you still be this light bundle of joy _you always pretend you are?!_ " explained Bruja in an increasingly annoyed tone of voice.

This time Steven look at Bruja with a mix of pity and sadness, "The truth I have to live with wondering whether I'm good enough _every day_. The truth, we're both alike. From what SheZow told me, you were pushed to live a big role too. I don't know what went wrong; maybe you just gave up…and I can understand that. I just know that there are people counting on me, so I can't give up." And with that Steven reached out his hand to get Bruja up.

Which Bruja promptly swatted the hand away, before erupted into a swarm of bats. Becoming a cyclone, Bruja flew into the sky, leaving the citizens and heroes behind. Steven looked on sadly on, unsure how to feel about this ending…

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or SheZow nor any characters or elements that are contained in the series. I only own this story and the original characters (i.e. villains and monsters) and concepts that go with it. Sorry it took so long. This is the longest chapter yet. I mean, two songs! Anyway, I have only the epilogue to do and then a hint of coming attractions. As always, Read and review please!

1 "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns n' Roses

2 In case you're wondering how, since the Desert Glass was destroyed in the episode "Steven's Lion" my theory is that since it has been shown that even a shard of a Gem's gemstone has power, the Crystal Gems had to find as many of the minuscule pieces as possible. Probably not all of them, but as much as possible…

3 The complete version of "We are the Crystal Gems" sung at San Diego Comic Con 2015 by the combine Adventure Time/Steven Universe panel


	10. Chapter 10

Epilogue: Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie

The Sun had finally dawned, bringing light and relief to all who resided in Beach City after the terror of the night before. With a little super powered help the City and even the Crystal Temple were quickly repaired. Though everyone searched through the night, there was no sign of the villainess known as La Bruja. The citizens of Beach City simply sighed in relief, hoping to put the whole incident swiftly behind them. Of course…this was not true of **all** the citizens…

Steven looked out over the rising sun, sighing and thinking over the past day. The Corrupted Gems had all been gathered and place back in the Temple, drained of energy by Bruja. There was some tension between the heroes and the Crystal Gems but it was resolved rather quickly. Bruja's lair under Aqua Mexican was completely cleared out, not a single clue left as to her next move might be. This left Steven feeling…uneasy…

"Hey, Stevie! How ya doing kid?" asked the falsetto voice of SheZow. He decided to stay around to make sure Bruja did not try and double back. Since then, he had grown to like Steven, even if he could be a little…sappy.

Sighing, Steven continued to look at the sunrise, while saying, "It's just…I don't understand what this was all about. I never even met Bruja before, why would she want to kill me?"

SheZow looked out over the horizon and answered Steven, "Look…Bruja's power comes from everyone else around her being miserable. After she gained those Reality Gems, she came close to god-like power! Fortunately, she did not have enough power to sustain it. You, you're like the most optimistic person I've met! You'll give anyone a chance to do right, you like the opposite of Bruja in every meaningful way.

"So if she got you to despair, she could feed not only off of your negative energy but from everyone around you. She could have become a full goddess of evil! Now, she's lost not only all that energy she's collected over the past few years, but the Reality Gems too. I don't think she's ever suffered a setback this **huge** before!"

"You don't actually sound happy about that." stated Steven, hearing a hidden tone in SheZow's voice.

SheZow continued to stare at the sunrise, hoping to avoid answering Steven's question. Because the truth was…he was not sure Bruja losing so badly **was** a good thing. Every other time Bruja lost, Suarez Sensational (the company owned by her alter-ego Sartana Suarez) could broker some form of deal to earn money. It always seemed like a balm for Bruja's ego. Now, however, with the superheroes rebuilding Beach City, she couldn't even profit off her mayhem!

This, of course, would only make the lose worse for Bruja. Not that SheZow really cared about her comfort, but that could make her desperate enough to try something…potentially _**world-ending**_ …

SHEZOW/STEVEN UNIVERSE

 _The same time, back in Megadale, at 1313 Dead End Drive…_

A heavy set of doors burst open as Bruja stomped into the haunted mansion. Having used it as her home away from home, Bruja knew exactly where to go…the study. Normally she would have used the mansion for big meeting with the resident villains of Megadale, but today… Anyway, she stomped into the study, sat at the full length table and looked down to see…

All the files and information she had collected on the Crystal Gems and Steven. Most of it had been gathered using her contacts with the US military. For a moment, she wonder what the Crystal Gems reaction would have been had they know that they were being spied for the _fifty years_ by at least **twenty different agencies, both domestic and foreign**. The thought of their reaction brought a smile to her face…until she spied the various images captured of Steven universe.

Staring down, Bruja saw various instances of Steven either in combat or simply playing around. Snarling, Bruja shoved the pictures off the table and slammed her fist into the table, causing cracks to form. This only infuriate Bruja more, because previously, if she had done that, the table would have split in two! Deciding to throw herself into work, she went to the nearby cabinet and rifled through the files looking for the right move. Eventually, Bruja came across a file which read " **Big Hero 6** "…

To be continued in…

 _ **SheZow and Big Hero 6 in**_ _ **Light It Up!**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or SheZow nor any characters or elements that are contained in the series. I only own this story and the original characters (i.e. villains and monsters) and concepts that go with it. Hope that's enough of a hint for the next piece of this series! I'm going to be taking a few weeks off writing for now though. When I return…I'll have a special adventure for Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems. Let's just say, they'll face the possibility of a war on two fronts. Please Read and Review


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